THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


IN  MEMORY  OF 

PROFESSOR 
EUGENE  I.  McCORMAC 


SEVEN   DECADES 


OF 


THE     UNIOK 

THE  HUMANITIES  AND  MATERIALISM, 


ILLUSTRATED    BY 


A  MEMOIR  OF  JOHN  TYLER, 


WITH 


of  his 


THE  TRANSITION  STATE  OF  THIS  NATION— ITS  DANGERS 
AND  THEIR  REMEDY. 


BY    HENRY    A.   WISE. 


"'Tis  Liberty,  or  'tis  Death!' 

Loo  AX:  Runny  medc. 

"Give  me  Liberty,  or  give  me  Death  1" 

PATRICK  HENRT, 
at  the  "Old  Raleigh,"  WiUianuburg  Va. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
J.   B.    LIPPINCOTT    &    CO. 

1872. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  by 

J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT    &    CO., 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


DEDICATION. 


To  the  rector,  board  of  visitors,  faculty,  alumni,  and  students 
of  the  College  of  William  and  Mary,  I  dedicate  this  memoir  of 
her  late  rector  and  chancellor,  John  Tyler,  the  tenth  President 
of  the  United  States  of  America;  prepared  for  the  archives  of 
his  Alma  Mater,  in  obedience  to  her  resolves  and  orders,  at 
intervals  snatched  from  professional  business,  and  from  house 
hold  hinderances  and  cares,  since  the  meeting  of  the  rector, 
board,  and  faculty  in  the  year  1868. 

It  has  been  to  me  a  task  of  tears,  dashed  with  some  sacred 
joy, — a  tale  of  sadness  cheered  and  lightened  by  some  exultant 
songs  of  triumphant  reminiscence. 

Mr.  Tyler's  life  ran  through  seven  decades,  from  1790  to 
1862  ;  it  is  full  of  the  themes  of  many  and  mighty  events  and 
thoughts;  it  has  a  divine  moral  in  its  teachings,  and  lessons 
for  the  deepest  study  of  mankind. 

Humbled  by  attempting  the  performance  of  this  task,  I  pro 
fess  only  a  "joy  of  grief," — no  talents  for  the  volume  of  its 
labors.  To  bring  that  volume  within  readable  compass,  I  have 
sketched  a  memoir,  not  altogether  a  biography,  and  not  at  all  a 
history, — an  outline  not  wholly  filled  up, — a  drawing  somewhat 
colored  and  shaded,  but  foreshortened  to  delineate  salient  points 
and  parts  in  the  important  and  impressive  life  and  action  of  a 
good  and  great  man. 

I  glance,  first,  at  the  results  of  history  just  before  his  birth, 

(  Hi )  • 


iv  DEDICATION. 

up  to  the  time  when  he  took  part  in  events  ;  and  then  follow 
them  until  he  finished  his  course  on  earth ;  leaving  his  country, 
in  the  midst  of  a  revolution,  the  beginning'  of  which  he  saw 
and  took  part  in,  but  the  witnessing  of  the  end  of  which  he  was 
graciously  spared. 

I  have  treated  of  measures  and  men  mostly  affecting  him, 
but  have  made  free  to  indulge  in  episodes  touching  causes  and 
effects  affecting  the  nation  during  his  time,  and  describing  some 
of  the  men  who  were  his  cotemporaries. 

I  make  no  apologies  to  the  public  for  the  work.  It  was 
written  at  the  request  of  William  and  Mary,  and  has  grown 
into  its  present  proportions  and  form,  to  gratify  my  own  affec 
tions,  and  to  perform  a  duty  of  gratitude  to  a  good,  true,  and 
faithful  friend,  who  was  much  maligned  in  life,  and  who  is  now 
far  above  all  praise. 

The  writing  of  it  has  soothed  some  aching  agonies  of  my 
own  ;  and  my  only  wish  or  prayer  about  it  is,  that  it  may  do 
good  to  others,  and  especially  aid  in  reviving  the  hopes  of  con 
stitutional  liberty  in  a  land  which  is  still,  thank  God,  the  asy 
lum  of  the  free.  Its  aim  is  to  direct  the  attention  of  a  republic 
back  to  the  "  Humanities,"  from  the  "material  and  the  physi 
cal,"  which  now  preponderate  and  prevail  too  much  over  the 
moral  elements  of  government  and  of  society. 

The  attempt  is  itself  laudable,  whatever  may  be  the  failure 
of  the  performance.  If  it  is  not  thought  well,  nor  grouped 
well,  nor  written  well,  it  may  perchance  suggest  something 
worth  weighing  to  those  who  can  think  and  group  and  write ; 
and  with  that  I  will  be  content. 

With  the  highest  reverence  and  respect,  I  am 

Your  obedient  servant, 

HENRY  A.  WISE. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    FIRST   DECADE,    FROM    1790    TO    1801. 

PAGE 

The  American  Revolution — The  Effect  of  the  Reformation — The  First  Ad 
ministration  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  during  which 
Mr.  Tyler  was  born — The  Second  Administration,  and. its  Revolution  of 
Parties  in  1801 — Mr.  Tyler's  Lineage,  and  the  Peninsula  on  which  he 
was  born  and  raised 11 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE    SECOND    DECADE,    FROM    1800    TO    1810. 

The  Aggressions  of  England  and  France  upon  Neutrals,  and  the  Rejection 
of  the  American  Mission  by  France — Commencement  of  the  American 
Navy — The  Effect  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  causing  the  Kentucky 
and  Virginia  Resolutions  of  1798— The  Presidential  Election  in  1800, 
overthrowing  the  Federal  Party,  and  diriding  the  Democratic  by  the 
Contest  of  Burr  for  the  First  Place  on  the  Ticket — Peace  with  the  First 
Consul,  and  the  Acquisition  of  Louisiana — Disunion  Sentiments  in  the 
North  in  1803,  on  account  of  the  Treaty  with  France — The  Lewis  and 
Clarke  Expedition — The  Orders  in  Council,  and  the  Imperial  Decrees — 
The  Attack  of  the  Leopard  on  the  Chesapeake — The  Embargo  Act — Pre 
parations  for  War — The  War  turned  over  to  the  Madison  Term — What 
Mr.  Jefferson  did  for  Science  .........  35 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE    THIRD    DECADK,    FROM    1810    TO    1820. 

Tecumseh  and  Tippecanoe — War  with  Great  Britain  ;  how  the  Declaration 
of  it  was  got  at,  and  Mr.  Tyler's  part  in  the  War — The  Attempt  upon 
Canada — General  Scott,  another  War-made  Man — The  Navy  on  the 
Ocean  and  the  Lakes — Blue-Lights — Cockburn  at  Hampton — General 
Taylor,  another  War-made  Man — General  Jackson — The  Course  of  Con 
necticut  and  Massachusetts  during  the  War — The  Hartford  Convention 

(V) 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAQfl 

called  by  Massachusetts  in  the  midst  of  the  War — Peace  saved  the  United 
States— After  Peace,  Imposts  for  Protection— National  Bank  in  1817— 
The  Colonization  Society  and  the  Republic  of  Liberia — The  First  Term 
of  Mr.  Monroe — His  Conciliation  of  Federalism — His  Cabinet — J.  Q. 
Adams — W.  H.  Crawford — John  C.  Calhoun — Internal  Improvements — 
The  Erie  Canal  by  New  York— The  Seminole  War— St.  Mark's— Pensa- 
cola  and  Fort  Barrancas — Cession  of  Florida — Admission  of  Missouri — 
Ocean  Steam  Navigation,  July  20,  1819 52 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  FOURTH  DECADE,  FROM  1820  TO  1830. 

The  Second  Term  of  Mr.  Monroe— The  Debate  on  the  Execution  of  Arbuth- 
not  and  Ambrister — The  Presidential  Election  in  1824 — General  Jackson.  72 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  FOURTH  DBCADE,  FROM  1820  TO  1830. 

"The  Monroe  Doctrine" — Northwestern  Coast  of  America — The  Tariff  of 
1828 — The  Election  of  General  Jackson — An  Episode  and  Anecdote  .  90 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    FIFTH    DECADE,    FROM    1830    TO    1840. 

Debates  from  1831  to  1832— the  Tariff  of  1828  for  Protection— The  Com 
promise — Mr.  Clay  the  Great  Pacificator — South  Carolina  Ordinancts 
and  Force  Bill — Mr.  Tyler  the  real  and  only  Peace-Maker — The  Presi 
dential  Election  of  1832 — Democracy  divided — Mr.  Van  Buren  the 
Favorite — The  Names  of  Factions — Mr.  Tyler's  Error  of  siding  with 
Nullification — Difference  between  it  and  the  Virginia  Doctrines  of  Mr. 
Madison — The  Conservative  Purpose  and  End  of  a  Convention  of  the 
States  for  Gates  of  Last  Resort 119 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    FIFTH    DECADE,    FROM    1830    TO    1840. 

Bill  to  modify  and  continue  the  Bank  of  the  United  States — Mr.  Tyler's 
Consistency — Mr.  Tyler's  Re-election  to  the  Senate,  to  serve  from  the 
Fourth  of  March,  1833 — His  Suggestions  how  to  compose  the  Strife  of 
Nullification — The  Removal  of  the  Public  Deposits  from  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States — Censure  of  President  Jackson  by  the  Senate — The 
President's  Protest  —  Expunction — Mr.  Benton's  Notice — Mr.  Tyler's 
Report  on  the  Bank  and  Debate  with  Benton — His  Presidency  of  the 
Senate — "Three  Millions  Bill" — Action  of  Virginia  Legislature  on  Ex 
punction — Mr.  B.  W.  Leigh — Mr.  Tyler's  Resignation  of  his  Seat  in  the 
Senate,  aud  Letter — Mr.  Rives  elected  to  fill  the  Vacancy — Mr.  Leigh 
on  the  Verb  "  to  Keep" — Scene  of  Expunction — Election  of  Mr.  Van 


CONTENTS  Vii 

PAGE 

Buron — Annexation  of  Texas — The  Threat  by  General  Jackson  against 
France — Wharton,  Archer,  Samuel  Houston — How  Annexation  by  Arms 
was  disappointed — The  Boundary  with  Mexico — Jackson  and  Adams — 
The  Sacrilege  of  D — ning  Grotius,  Puffendorf,  and  Vattel— General 
Jackson's  Unpardonable  Sin  in  the  Eyes  of  Mr.  Adams  ....  134 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   FIFTH    DECADE,    FROM    1830   TO    1840. 

Intrigues  to  make  Mr.  Van  Buren  the  Favorite  for  the  Succession — Judge 
White— The  Effect  of  the  Ambition  of  the  President  to  elect  his  Succes 
sor — The  Election  in  1836 — The  Union  of  all  Factions  in  Opposition, 
forming  the  Whig  Party — The  Election  of  Mr.  Rives  to  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  in  the  Session  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  of 
1838-39— Treachery  to  Mr.  Tyler  made  him  Vice-President—Mr.  Web 
ster's  Opposition  to  the  Nomination  of  Mr.  Clay — The  Triangular  Cor 
respondence — Judge  White's  Warning  and  Prophecy — Mr.  Clay's  Pledges 
and  Committals  on  Practical  Points — Judge  White  instructed  out  of  the 
Senate  by  Locofocoism  in  the  Tennessee  Legislature — Scenes  with  Mr. 
Clay  in  1840— His  Habits  up  to  1844— His  War  with  Webster,  resulting 
in  the  Election  of  Harrison  and  Tyler — The  total  Dismemberment  of  the 
Whig  Party  before  Harrison's  Inauguration 153 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   SIXTH   DECADE,    FROM    1840    TO    1850. 

Campaign  of  1840 — Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too — Personations  of  the  Divi 
sions  of  the  Whig  Party — Tyler's  expressed  Opinions  during  the  Can 
vass —  Dismemberment  of  the  Whig  Party  before  General  Harrison's 
Inauguration — General  Harrison's  Health  and  Death — Scenes  at  Wash 
ington  City — Harrison's  Cabinet — "Tyler  too"  President — What  he  had 
to  do — The  Harrison  Cabinet  retained — Mr.  Tyler's  Speech  as  Vice- 
President— His  "Address  to  the  People  of  the  United  States,"  and  his 
First  Message — Fiscal  Bank — Veto — Fiscal  Corporation — Ewing's  Bill — 
Mr.  Clay's  Pledges  broken — Why — The  Ewing,  Sergeant,  and  Berrien 
Committee's  Interview  with  Mr.  Tyler — Mr.  Rives's  Plan  of  evading 
Constitutional  Scruples — Mr.  Clay's  Object  to  force  a  Veto— Veto  Second 
—  Mr.  Tyler's  Integrity  assailed  —  His  Firmness  —  Conditions  of  Peace 
tendered  to  him — Mr.  Clay  inexorable — Congress  implacable — The  Har 
rison  Cabinet  dissolved — Mr.  Webster  remains  with  his  Credentials  in 
Favor  of  Mr.  Tyler — Disposition  to  deprive  Mr.  Tyler  of  a  Cabinet  by 
not  confirming  any  of  his  Nominees — The  First  Tyler  Cabinet.  .  .  174 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE   SIXTH    DECADE,    FROM    1840    TO    1850. 

The  Cabinet — Mr.  Webster;  his  Social  Conversation — Daniel  Wise— Hon. 
A.  P.  Upshur— T.  R.  Joynes— Trial  of  the  Gibbses— The  Figure  of  Arith- 


viii  CONTENTS. 


FAQS 


metic  and  of  Rhetoric— Mr.  J.  C.  Spencer — Mr.  Wickliffe— Mr.  Legare"— 
Error  in  his  Biography— Retirement  of  Spencer  and  Webster— Death  of 
Legate— Second  Session  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Congress— Its  Measures 
— The  Bank  Bills— The  Exchequer— Act  for  the  Distribution  of  the 
Sales  of  the  Public  Lands,  and  the  Tariff,  and  their  Veto — Report  of 
Mr.  Adams's  Committee,  and  the  Protest — Mr.  Thomas  W.  Gilmer — Dorr 
Rebellion — Impeachment — Loss  of  Mrs.  Tyler — Persecution  and  Compo 
sure  of  Mr.  Tyler — The  Cabinet  renewed 194 

CHAPTER  XL 

THE    SIXTH    DECADE,    PROM    1840    TO    1850. 

Vacancy  in  Supreme  Court — The  Case  of  Vidal  et  al.  v«.  Girard's  Executors 
— Sergeant,  Binney,  Webster,  Jones — Reason  why  Sergeant  and  Binney 
declined — How  Mr.  Calhoun  was  called  to  the  Department  of  State — A 
Personal  Scene  with  Mr.  Tyler  after  the  Catastrophe  of  the  Princeton — 
The  New  Cabinet 215 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    SIXTH    DECADE,    PROM    1840    TO    1850. 

Departure  for  Brazil— The  Calhoun  Cabinet— The  Last  Year  of  the  Admin 
istration,  and  Annexation  of  Texas — Mr.  Spencer  retires — Election  of 
1844 — The  Triumph  of  Mr.  Tyler's  Policy — Comparison  with  Jefferson's 
Administration — Mr.  Tyler's  Second  Marriage — A  Scene  on  a  James 
River  Steamer — Mr.  William  L.  Marcy  ;  Anecdotes  of  him  and  Robert 
G.  Scott,  Esq.,  of  Richmond,  Va.— The  Sherwood  Estate  of  Mr.  Tyler— 
His  Appointment  and  Services  as  Overseer  of  Roads  in  Charles  City 
County — His  Retirement  and  Private  Life — Professor  Holmes's  Slur 
upon  him  in  the  University  Series — What  he  did  in  preparing  for  the 
Acquisition  of  California — The  Effect  of  the  Gold-Mines — The  Revival 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise  Controversy — The  South  dwarfed  in  the 
Union 228 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  SEVENTH  DECADE,  FROM  1850  TO  1860. 

Disparity  of  the  North  and  South  in  White  Population — General  Taylor 
and  the  Election  of  1848 — Mr.  Fillmore — "  Free  Soil"  Usurpation  in 
California— Mr.  Clay's  Omnibus  Bill— Death  of  General  Taylor— Non 
intervention — Election  of  Mr.  Pierce  in  1852 — Kansas  and  Nebraska 
Bills — "  Squatter  Sovereignty" — The  Modern  Republican  Party — Con 
vention  of  Seven  Southern  States  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  in  1850 — 
Secession  started — Judicial  Blindness  of  the  South — "Immigrant  Aid 
Societies"  and  "  Blue  Lodges" — Border  War  enacted  by  Congress — • 
John  Brown  of  Ossawattomie  —  Know-Nothingism  —  Election  of  Mr. 
Buchanan  in  1857— Dred  Scott  Case;  its  Effect— Kansas  Troubles— Mr. 


CONTENTS.  ix 

PAGE 

Buchanan's  Failure  to  keep  the  Peace — Raid  on  Harper's  Ferry — Elec 
tion  of  1860  :  the  Issue— The  Plan  and  Meaning  of  Fighting  in  the  Union 
— Mr.  Tyler's  Part-Peace  Convention— Mr.  Tyler's  Speech  at  Baltimore 
in  1855— Secession  Fears  of  Halters 241 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  SEVENTH  DECADE,  FROM  1850  TO  1860. 

The  Essential  Rights  of  States— The  Original  Condition  of  the  several 
United  States— What  Change  did  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
make  in  their  Sovereign  Condition? — The  War- Power  of  the  United 
States — War-Power  and  the  Power  to  repel  Invasion  in  Constitutional 
Contrast  with  the  Powers  to  execute  the  Laws  and  to  suppress  Insurrec 
tion — The  Prohibitions  to  the  States — The  Error  of  Secession — Instances 
of  Insurrection  and  Rebellion — A  State  defined — The  Primary  and 
Secondary  Elements  of  a  State — The  Conflict  of  States  never  an  Insur 
rection  :  of  these  States,  it  is  Internal  or  Civic  War,  governed  by  the 
Law  of  Internal  Sovereignty — The  States  invaded,  and  their  Duties  in 
the  Case — Inimici  non  Hostca — Dorr's  Rebellion 255 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  SEVENTH  DECADE,  FROM  1850  TO  1862. 

Peace  Convention — Virginia's  Attitude — Rapid  Rush  of  Events  from  the 
4th  of  February  to  the  18th  of  March,  1861— The  Part  of  Mr.  Tyler — 
Hi?  Speech  on  opening  the  Peace  Convention — Virginia's  Delegates 
disagree  among  themselves — The  Rule  in  the  Case  of  Hylton  vs.  United 
States,  as  to  Uniformity  and  Equality  of  Taxation  throughout  the  United 
States,  contended  for  by  Mr.  Tyler — Proclamation  of  the  Federal  Execu 
tive,  and  its  Effect — The  Seizure  of  Harper's  Ferry — Secession  declared 
by  Virginia  on  the  17th  of  April,  1861 — What  Virginia  ought  to  have 
done — Mr.  Tyler  elected  to  the  Confederate  Congress — His  Death — The 
Obituaries— His  Will 271 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

DECADE   BEGINNING    IN    1861,    AND    ENDING   JANUARY  18,   1862. 

Death  of  Mr.  Tyler — Proceedings  of  the  Legislature  of  Virginia — Proceed 
ings  of  the  Confederate  Congress — The  Citizens  of  Richmond  did  him 
Homage  and  Sepulture  at  Hollywood  Cemetery,  where  his  Remains  lie; 
and  Honor  was  done  his  Memory  even  in  Baltimore  at  that  Hazardous 
Time- -Item  in  his  Will  touching  his  Burial 283 

APPENDIX 305 


SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE  UNION. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE    FIRST   DECADE   FROM    1T9O    TO   18O1. 

The  American  Revolution— The  Effect  of  the  Reformation— The  First  Admin 
istration  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  during  which  Mr. 
Tyler  was  born — The  Second  Administration,  and  its  Revolution  of  Parties 
in  1801 — Mr.  Tyler's  Lineage,  and  the  Peninsula  on  which  he  was  born  and 
raised. 

"THE  dust  on  antique  time  would  lie  unswept, 
And  mountainous  error  be  too  highly  heap'd 
For  truth  to  overpeer," 

had  not  Heaven's  messengers  of  the  Reformation,  in  the  latter 
end  of  the  sixteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
centuries,  broken  its  thick  crust  of  ages.  The  smouldering  fires 
of  accumulated  wrongs  burst  forth  in  Europe  with  more  than 
volcanic  force,  shaking  and  scorching  the  Absolutism  of  the  Old 
World,  and  setting  human  intellects  free. 

Wickliffe,  Calvin,  Luther,  Melanchthon,  Cromwell  were  not  the 
only  ones  thinking  and  daring  and  doing,  but  hosts  of  mightiest 
minds,  in  every  department  of  knowledge  and  of  truth,  were 
scattering  lights  abroad  to  illumine  the  darkness.  The  closets 
of  the  Vatican  were  thrown  open  ;  the  secrets  of  the  Schoolmen 
were  revealed  ;  the  stools  of  Dogmas  and  the  thrones  of  Despot 
ism  were  thrown  down.  Powers  and  Principalities  were  sub 
dued  to  become  the  Protestant  pupils  of  a  divine  faith  of 
"good  will  to  men,"  and  were  themselves  made  to  question 


12  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

and  confront  Absolutism  defiantly,  with  the  cross  of  suffering 
and  of  martyrdom,  for  the  sake  of  Truth. 

This  shock  of  old  things,  thought  to  be  firmly  established 
because  simply  hoary,  and  having  custom  without  law,  had  its 
ample  course.  Students  of  the  laws  of  God  and  of  the  rights 
of  man  were  in  the -laboratories  of  the  great  school  of  the  Hu 
manities,  and  the  Humanities  were  made  ready  for  the  occa 
sion  of  their  uses.  Earth  was  crying  for  them,  and  they  went 
forth  to  the  call.  Philology,  Grammar,  the  Hebrew,  Latin,  and 
Greek  languages,  Logic,  Poetry,  History,  Metaphysics,  and  the 
Divine  Philosophy  of  Christianity  found  the  Printing-Press 
ready  to  give  them  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  Columbus 
had  already  sailed  over  the  seas  and  found  a  New  World  for 
their  theater.  Here,  in  North  America,  they  found  a  huge,  rude, 
barbaric  continent,  lying  prone  in  a  state  of  nature,  ample  for 
the  fires  and  the  blasts  of  all  their  mighty  furnaces,  forges,  and 
foundries. 

In  the  mean  time,  Bacon  had  been  at  his  inductions ;  Oxford 
was  teaching;  the  divines  were  translating  and  publishing  the 
Bible;  Milton  was  singing;  and  by  the  time  America  was 
ready  for  her  first  Revolution  Burke  had  generalized  the  phi 
losophy  of  human  government ;  Bourbons  and  Stuarts  of  old 
dynasties  had  been  beheaded  ;  Hampdens  and  Sydney s  had 
asserted  rights  and  been  martyred ;  the  Publicists  had  codi 
fied  international  law,  and  the  convulsions  of  England  had 
settled  some  ideas  of  Magna  Charta  for  domestic  govern 
ment.  The  people  of  England  had  learned  to  rehearse  the 
noble  Baron's  chant  of  Liberty: 

"Let  every  Briton,  as  his  mind,  be  free. 
His  person  safe,  his  property  secure; 
His  house  as  sacred  as  the  fane  of  heaven  ; 
Watching  unseen,  his  ever-open  door, 
Watching  the  realm,  the  spirit  of  the  laws; 
His  fate  determined  by  the  rules  of  right; 
His  voice  enacted  in  the  common  voice, 
And  general  suffrage  of  the  assembled  realm 
No  hand  invisible  to  write  his  doom; 
No  demon  starting  at  the  midnight  hour, 


THE  FIRST  DECADE.  13 

To  draw  his  curtain,  or  to  drag  him  down 
To  mansions  of  despair.     Wide  to  the  world 
Disclose  the  secrets  of  the  prison  walls, 
And  bid  the  groanings  of  the  dungeon  strike 
The  public  ear.     Inviolable  preserve 
The  sacred  shield  that  covers  all  the  land, 
The  Heaven-conferred  palladium  of  the  Isle, 
To  Britain's  sons,  the  judgment  of  their  peers. 
On  these  great  pillars,  freedom  of  the  Mind, 
Freedom  of  Speech,  and  freedom  of  the  Pen, 
Forever  changing,  yet  forever  sure, 
The  base  of  Britain  rests!" 


These  were  the  mighty  throes  making  grand  preparation  for 
the  working  of  new  ideas. 

The  American  Revolution  breaking  out  in  17C5,  and  brought 
to  a  denouement  in  '76,  germinated  thoughts  which  will  never 
cease  growing,  until  they  cover  the  whole  earth  with  the  ffigis 
of  laws  made  for  the  sake  of  liberty,  not  of  liberty  only  to 
make  laws. 

1st.  The  right  of  self-government,  in  all  separate  communities 
defined  into  distinct  peoples,  requiring  separate  and  different 
laws,  and  capable  of  either  separate  or  confederate  nationality. 

2dly.  Self -government,  guarded  in  law  making  and  in  law- 
adminstering  power  by  limitations  of  authority  in  WRITTEN 
constitutions  of  government. 

3dly.  The  demolition  of  colonial  and  provincial  States  de 
pendent  on  central  sovereignties. 

4thly.  Freedom,  equality,  and  source  of  sovereignty  in  the 
governed,  and  responsibility  and  accountability  in  the  gov 
ernors  of  men. 

5thly.  Sovereignty  in  the  constituency  or  source,  and  not  in 
the  mere  municipality  of  government. 

These  were  the  five  cardinal  points  of  the  North  American 
system  of  constitutional  republicanism. 

The  forest-born  Demosthenes  did  not  catch  songs  of  liberty 
from  the  birds  of  the  trees  in  the  wilderness.  Old  Logan  had 
written  his  poem,  and  Runnymede  was  read  in  the  forests 
where  Henry  hunted ;  and  it  was  thus  that  the  orator's  thun- 


U  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

ders  caught  the  notes  of  the  poet's  soul- music;  the  one  singing, 
" 'Tis  Liberty  or  Death!"  and  the  other  singing,  "Give  me 
Liberty  or  give  me  Death  !" 

It  was  about  this  period  of  liberty  brooding  over  States 
which  had  just  ceased  to  be  colonies  of  America,  and  ger 
minating  these  indestructible  thoughts  in  mighty  men,  that 
John  Tyler  was  born.  It  was  the  age  of  heroes  and  of  sages, 
and  of  battles,  too, — battles  of  which  those  of  the  sword  were 
only  heroic,  while  those  of  the  souls  and  minds  of  men  were 
spiritual  and  immortal.  It  was  the  age  which  gave  the  world 
a  Washington  ;  and  the  shrine  of  Mount  Yernon  is  sacred  to  all 
men,  next  only  to  the  unapproachable  shrine  of  Mount  Nebo. 
The  Moses  of  the  New  World  inducted  these  new  ideas  into  the 
government  of  men.  The  novelty  of  this  new  government  was 
the  least  difficulty  in  the  wondrous  work  of  its  establishment. 
Its  magnitude  was  immense,  and  yet  all  its  parts  were  aptly 
fitted  together,  and  appropriate  to  all  its  far-reaching  ends. 
The  administration  of  the  Father  of  his  Country  gave  it  at  the 
beginning  its  true  form  and  expression. 

His  wisdom  settled  foreign  relations  on  the  surest  founda 
tions  of  peace  and  justice  with  all  nations,  and  entangling  alli 
ances  with  none ;  he  firmly  guarded  neutrality ;  he  organized 
the  executive  departments. 

During  his  term  were  founded  the  judiciary,  the  land  ordi 
nances,  the  Indian  policy,  the  laws  of  immigration  and  natu 
ralization,  a  navy  and  military  system  opposed  to  standing 
armies ;  and  he  so  ordered  the  public  fisc  as  to  frown  down 
the  bad  faith  of  repudiating  the  public  debt,  and  assumed  the 
States'  debts  incurred  in  the  Revolution.  He  restored  the 
national  credit,  revived  trade,  and  provided  ample  revenue ;  he 
protected  the  frontier  against  Indian  depredations.  He  resisted 
Jacobinism  from  abroad,  and,  above  all,  taught  us  the  applica 
tion  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  to  cases  of  rebellion  and 
treason,  using  the  military  force  as  ancillary  only  to  the  civil 
power.  In  a  word,  under  the  auspices  of  the  administration 
of  the  first  President,  grace,  dignity,  decorum,  order,  and  power 
were  imparted  to  the  government  of  the  United  States;  and  it 


THE  FIRST  DECADE.  15 

was  made  to  give  assurance  to  the  hope  of  permanent  and  per 
petual  civil  liberty,  and  commanded  the  highest  respect  of  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  But  there  was  one  canker  in  its  bud 
which  needed  to  be  dreaded,  and  has  since  proved  to  be  de 
structive  to  its  bloom  and  beauty, — not  yet,  I  hope,  to  all  its 
fruits.  It  was  the  canker  of  construction. 

All  then  admitted  that  all  the  powers  granted  in  the  Consti 
tution  were  guarded  by  limitations ;  but  two  schools  existed  as 
to  the  extent  and  application  of  limitations.  Jefferson  at  the 
head  of  one,  Hamilton  at  the  head  of  the  other  school,  both 
of  the  first  Cabinet,  came  into  serious  conflict  first  upon  the 
construction  of  the  words  "  necessary  and  proper,"  as  to  the 
power  of  Congress  to  create  a  national  bank.  The  strict  school 
contended  that  the  power  was  not  granted,  and  was,  therefore, 
reserved  to  the  States  or  the  people. 

The  school  of  broader  construction  resorted  to  the  incidental 
powers. 

Mr.  Hamilton  admitted  all  the  granted  powers  were  strictly 
limited,  and  that  the  granted  powers  only  could  be  exercised ; 
but  that  all  powers  "  necessary  and  proper"  to  carry  the  ex 
pressed  powers  into  execution  were  granted  and  could  be  ex 
ercised;  though  he  admitted  that  they  were  restrained  and 
limited  in  extent  and  purpose  by  their  relation  to  the  powers 
expressed. 

Neither  contended  that  either  the  expressed  or  the  necessary 
and  properly  relative  or  incidental  powers  were  unlimited  and 
unrestrained ;  but,  as  we  shall  see,  this  memorable  start  of  con 
struction  soon  passed  beyond  all  bounds  |of  either  expressed  or 
necessary  and  proper  incidental  powers. 

The  history  of  construction  shows  that  in  less  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century  the  incidental  powers,  restrained  at  first  by  the 
ends  and  extent  of  the  expressed  powers,  were  carried  far  be 
yond  the  expressed  powers  themselves,  which  limited  and  re 
strained  them.  And  here  commenced  the  first  struggle  between 
what  then  began  to  be  called  the  Federal  and  Democratic 
Republican  parties. 

Well  for  us  all  would  it  be,  at  this  day,  if  construction  had 


16  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

not  carried  incidental  power  further  than  it  was  carried  by  Mr. 
Hamilton,  in  his  masterly  argument,  which  won  the  mind  of 
Washington  on  the  Bank  question.  But  the  Federal  party, 
under  his  august  influence,  succeeded  in  electing  his  immediate 
successor;  and  the  second  administration  met  the  portentous 
obstacle  of  a  threatened  war  with  France. 

The  crushing  conflicts  of  England  and  France  for  universal 
supremacy  assailed  the  neutral  rights  of  our  country,  and  a 
provisional  army  had  to  be  raised.  Genet,  the  French  minister 
in  this  country,  had  outraged  our  internal  sovereignty,  and 
the  elder  Adams  recommended  measures  which  were  defended 
under  the  pretext  of  the  imminency  of  war.  His  party  started 
the  doctrine  that  even  threatened  war  set  aside  the  checks, 
balances,  and  limitations  of  the  Constitution,  and  justified  the 
passage  of  the  acts  of  the  Alien  and  of  the  Sedition  laws, — the 
one  act  to  remove  aliens  suspected  of  hostility,  and  the  other 
to  punish  sedition,  in  forms  violating  the  freedom  of  speech 
and  of  the  press.  It  was  then  that  the  Virginia  Legislature 
resolved:  "That  the  powers  not  delegated  by  the  Constitution 
to  the  United  States,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are 
reserved  to  the  States  or  to  the  people;  and,  therefore,  the  exer 
cise  of  the  powers  not  enumerated  in  the  grant  by  the  United 
States,  is  an  usurpation  of  the  authority  of  the  States  or  of  the 
people." 

This  was  in  turn  met  by  the  Federal  party  assuming  that 
whilst  the  States  and  the  people  of  the  States  were  originally 
the  sources  of  sovereignty,  yet  they  had  delegated  that  sover 
eignty  to  the  Federal  government  of  the  Union,  and  that  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  had,  by  the  Constitution,  become 
invested  with  the  national  sovereignty,  and  might  exercise  its 
powers  and  dominions  over  any  and  every  subject  of  the  "  gen 
eral  welfare." 

The  Democracy  insisted  that  the  national  sovereignty  could 
not  be  delegated,  and  could  not  exist  in  any  one  or  all  of  the 
mere  municipal  departments  of  government,  either  executive, 
judicial,  or  legislative, — that  sovereignty  could  exist  alone  in 
its  source,  the  States,  and  that  the  people  could  act  only 


THE  FIRST  DECADE.  If 

through  the  organism  of  the  States ;  and  that  its  very  nature, 
under  our  system  of  republican  constitutional  freedom,  was 
conventional,  and  not  municipal;  that  the  mere  municipal 
functionaries  of  the  Federal  government  were  but  creatures  of 
sovereignty,  and  its  mere  trustees,  servants,  and  agents,  to  do 
the  biddings  of  the  conventional  power  of  the  States  and  the 
people  as  expressed  and  limited  by  the  Constitution ;  that  the 
Constitution  itself  was  but  the  creature  of  the  sovereignty  of 
the  States  or  the  people,  and  was  made  by  it  the  guide,  and 
standard,  and  rule  of  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  author 
ity  and  functions,  and  that  the  Presidency,  the  Congress,  and  the 
Supreme  Court  each  and  all  were  but  creatures  of  the  Consti 
tution.  They  were  creatures  not  in  the  first,  but  in  the  second 
degree  from  sovereignty,  and  could  pretend  neither  to  be  the 
sovereignty  itself  nor  to  have  delegated  to  them  its  absolute 
powers,  that  the  conventional  powers  of  the  States  or  their 
people  alone  could  exercise  absolute  and  unlimited  power,  and 
that  all  questions  of  doubtful  or  disputed  power  by  the  mere 
municipal  Federal  government,  and  either  or  all  of  its  depart 
ments,  had  of  right  to  be  referred  to  the  conventional  power  of 
the  States  or  of  the  people,  in  their  separate  State  organiza 
tions.  Thus  began  the  discord  of  State  rights  and  of  Federal 
absolutism.  The  Alien  and  Sedition  laws  were  passed,  the 
provisional  army  was  provided,  a  regular  army  created,  Demo 
cratic  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  were  insulted 
in  the  theater  for  words  spoken  against  standing  armies  in  the 
House.  Mr.  Jefferson,  then  Vice-President,  had  to  be  guarded 
by  his  friends  from  his  presiding  chair  in  the  Senate  to  his 
boarding-house  and  back;  the  judiciary  had,  both  in  the  case 
of  Jay  and  of  Marshall,  become  officially  conjoined  with  the 
executive,  mixing  the  chief  justiceship  in  the  same  person  with 
the  secretaryship  of  state  and  the  office  of  a  foreign  minister; 
and  some  of  the  inferior  Federal  judges  had  played  the  Jeffries- 
scenes  over  again  so  rampant  that  the  whole  judiciary  was  very 
much  lowered  in  dignity,  and  finally  Chase  was  impeached. 

The  excesses  of  the  second  administration  became  odious  to 
the  States  and  the  people,  and  the  Federal  party  was  over- 

2 


18  SEVEN  DECADES    OF  THE    UNION. 

thrown  in  the  memorable  political  revolution  of  1801,  when 
the  great  apostle  of  liberty  and  author  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  was  elected  the  President.  For  a  study  of  this 
era  we  refer  to  Wharton's  "  State  Trials,"  and  particularly  to 
his  able,  philosophical,  beautiful,  and  just  preface. 

Besides  the  canker  of  construction,  other  causes  showed 
themselves  during  the  first  administration  which  brooded  mis 
chief,  and  from  the  beginning  foreshadowed  the  danger  of  disso 
lution  of  the  Union,  by  reason  of  infractions  of  the  Constitution 
and  of  infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  States  to  domestic  and 
internal  self-government. 

On  the  12th  February,  1790,  the  first  petition  was  presented 
to  Congress  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves.  It  was  signed  by 
Dr.  Franklin,  President  of  the  Society  for  the  Abolition  of 
Slavery.  He  was  a  philosopher  "  wise  as  a  serpent,"  but  not 
"as  harmless  as  the  dove."  He  had  been  chiefly  instrumental 
as  a  pacificator  in  the  convention  which  framed  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  on  the  question  of  the  apportionment 
of  representatives  between  the  free  and  the  slave  States ;  but 
it  seems  that  he  was  wily  enough  to  resort  to  a  more  effectual 
mode  of  assailing  the  property  in  slaves  and  the  power  of  the 
States  which  held  them  in  bondage.  Whether  he  foresaw  that 
the  dragon's  teeth  which  he  was  sowing  would  sprout  armed 
warriors  or  not,  is  not  for  us  to  say ;  but  he  was  either  not 
wise  in  not  foreseeing  the  consequences  of  his  movement,  or 
he  was  fanatically  heedless  of  the  consequences  themselves 
which  followed.  It  irritated  sectional  antagonism,  aroused  re 
ligious  antipathies,  fomented  jealousies  and  discord,  disturbed 
the  legislation  of  Congress,  and  finally  caused  civil  war.  So 
much  for  the  motives  and  action  of  the  highest  human  wisdom. 
He  was  doubtless  a  man  of  peace,  but  was  blind  to  the  mode 
of  preserving  it. 

The  Congress  of  1790  was  wiser  than  Franklin,  more  faith 
ful  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  resolved : 
"  That  Congress  have  no  authority  to  interfere  in  the  emanci 
pation  of  slaves,  or  in  the  treatment  of  them  in  any  of  the 
States."  And  the  territory  south  of  the  Ohio  was  accepted 


THE  FIRST  DECADE.  19 

without  excluding  slavery.  What  a  contrast  this  is  with  the 
executive  and  congressional  action  in  1862,  when  civil  war  was 
made  the  pretext  for  violating  the  Constitution  I 

Another  cloud,  not  larger  at  first  than  the  palm  of  a  man's 
hand,  formed  another  prognostic  of  coming  wars.  The  terri 
tory  ceded  by  North  Carolina,  out  of  which  the  new  State  was 
formed,  was  what  is  now  included  in  the  State  of*  Tennessee. 
That  territory  was  ceded  by  North  Carolina  in  a  deed  executed 
by  her  senators  under  her  laws,  in  December,  1789,  and  was 
accepted  by  act  of  Congress  passed  April  2d,  1790,  just  four 
teen  days  after  the  birth  of  John  Tyler.  The  cession  was 
forced  upon  North  Carolina  by  the  acts  of  rebels  to  her  jurisdic 
tion,  countenanced  by  Congress.  The  history  of  this  territory 
shows  the  first  and  only  instance  of  de  facto  "squatter  sover 
eignty"  known  in-  the  United  States  prior  to  the  period  of  the 
Mormon  monstrosities  in  Utah,  and  it  was  the  first  instance  of 
nullification. 

The  settlers  in  the  then  State  of  North  Carolina  west  of  the 
Stone  Mountain,  complaining  that  they  were  not  afforded  due 
protection  by  the  parent  State,  declared  their  independence,  and 
set  up  against  both  State  and  Federal  sovereignty  a  sovereignty 
of  their  own,  called  "the  State  of  Franklin."  They  organized 
a  State  government,  with  all  the  municipal  departments.  They 
practically  nullified  in  their  limits  both  the  laws  of  North  Caro 
lina  and  of  the  Federal  government.  They  established  a  cur 
rency  of  peltry,  and  the  then  governor,  General  Sevier,  com 
plained  that  he  was  cheated  grievously  in  the  payment  of  his 
salary,  by  having  put  upon  him  opossum-skins  with  raccoon- 
tails  sewed  on  to  them. 

They  contended  that  his  story  was  absurd,  because  if  they 
had  the  raccoon-tails,  they  would  have  the  raccoon-skins,  too ; 
but  he  convicted  them  of  using  the  same  tails  for  numerous  dif 
ferent  payments,  and  of  stealing  the  tails  again  for  the  repay 
ments. 

The  United  States,  under  Washington's  administration,  did 
not  deem  it  a  duty  or  a  necessity  to  use  force  against  this  gro 
tesque  but  flagrant  rebellion;  but  compensated  North  Carolina 


20  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

and  pacified  the  rebels  by  admitting  the  Territory  or  State  of 
Franklin  into  the  Union  as  the  State  of  Tennessee.  But  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  by  rebellion  that  State  gained  ad 
mission  instead  of  losing  its  place  in  the  Union  ;  and  secession 
and  nullification  were  both  sanctioned  by  the  then  Congress  of 
the  United  States  of  America.  Such,  then,  was  the  jealous 
regard  paid'by  all  to  the  right  of  independent  self-government. 
And  this,  too,  was  a  precedent  sanctioned  by  both  State  and 
Federal  authority,  which  fixed  a  habitude  of  thought  and  feeling 
and  action  on  the  very  first  settlers  of  this  country,  engrafting 
in  them  a  ruling  sense  of  the  right  of  self-government  against 
any  power  which  cither  oppressed  or  failed  to  protect  them. 
If  it  was  not  taught  them  by  precedent  sanctioned  by  Con 
gress,  its  spirit  was  caught  by  them,  assuredly,  from  the  colo 
nies,  especially  from  Massachusetts  and  all  New  England  and 
Virginia. 

Jt  was  in  this  decade,  beginning  with  the  first  under  Wash 
ington  and  ending  with  the  second  administration,  under  the 
elder  Adams,  that  John  Tyler's  childhood  played.  He  drew 
his  first  breath  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  wisdom  of  Washing 
ton,  and  his  mind  was  imbued  from  his  cradle  with  the  spirit  of 
the  nge  of  reformation,  resulting  in  the  men  and  the  events  of 
the  American  Revolution. 

He  was  at  his  grammar-school  just  at  the  moment  when  the 
doctrines  of  State  and  popular  sovereignty  began  to  be  success 
fully  taught,  and  became  triumphant  for  half  a  century  of  the 
future  from  that  time.  He  was  taught  and  trained  in  the  school 
of  strict  construction  of  the  Constitution  and  of  the  sovereignty 
of  the  States  or  the  people,  and  in  the  principles  of  the  school 
of  Democracy, — a  school  which  never  sought  to  lower  itself  in 
the  mud  of  manners  and  morals,  and  to  pull  all  men  down  to 
the  depth  of  vulgar  mobocracy  ;  but  one  which,  like  a  mighty 
charity,  sought  to  build  up  a  broad  platform  high  as  kings' 
crowns,  to  reach  down  the  strong  arm  of  popular  sovereignty 
to  raise  all  men,  the  least  and  lowest,  up  to  that  exalted  level ; 
ay,  as  high  as  possible,  near  to  God ! 

He   was  thoroughly  and  fully  imbued  by  birth,  by  educa- 


THE  FIRST  DECADE.  21 

tion,  by  the  men  and  events  around  him,  with  the  spirit 
and  the  truths  of  times  resorting  to  revolution  and  reform  for 
liberty. 

His  father's  residence  at  the  time  was  at  Greenway,  near 
Charles  City  Court  House.  His  cradle  was  rocked  there,  and 
all  his  childhood  was  nurtured  at  that  locality.  For  his  parent 
age  and  family  history,  we  condense  a  statement  prepared  by 
his  son,  John  Tyler,  Jr.,  Esq.  He  says  that  he  was  born  at 
Greeuway,  on  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  March,  A.D.  1790.  In 
the  paternal  line  he  was  the  fifth  in  descent  from  the  first  in 
Virginia  bearing  the  same  name,  who,  together  with  his  brother 
Henry,  came  at  an  early  period  to  the  colony  at  Jamestown ; 
and  eventually,  in  the  year  1636,  established  themselves  in  the 
Middle  Plantations,  intermediate  between  the  settlements  at 
Jamestown  and  Yorktown,  embracing  the  present  city  of  Wil- 
liamsburg  and  its  adjacent  country.  Henry  located  himself  on 
the  spot  where  Williamsburg  was  laid  out,  in  1690  ;  and  the 
lauds  upon  which  the  palace  of  the  royal  governor  was  erected, 
together  with  those  upon  which  the  college  itself  was  built, 
were  acquired  from  his  estate. 

John  located  himself  four  miles  from  the  present  site  of  Wil 
liamsburg,  where  the  round  brick  house  constructed  for  his  resi 
dence  still  stands, — now  called  Warburton's,  in  the  county  of 
James  City. 

These  brothers,  John  and  Henry  Tyler,  were  younger  mem 
bers  of  the  ancient  Shropshire  family,  originally  from  Wales, 
recently  and  at  present  represented  in  Great  Britain,  in  the 
elder  line,  by  the  late  Sir  William  and  the  present  Sir  Charles 
of  the  Parliament  and  the  Admiralty.  They  were  of  orginal 
Norman  and  Welsh  extraction. 

Who  the  first  John  Tyler  of  Virginia  married,  is  unknown, 
the  records  of  James  City  County  having  been  repeatedly  de 
stroyed.  They  were  destroyed  in  Bacon's  Rebellion,  in  1676. 
Again  when  the  old  capitol  was  burnt,  and  again  during  the 
late  war  of  secession.  What  remained  at  Williamsburg  were 
transferred  to  Richmond,  and  they  were  burnt  in  the  conflagra 
tion  of  that  city  in  1865  ;  and  most  family  records  of  the  peniu- 


22  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

sula  of  York  and  James  Rivers  were  destroyed  in  the  wars  of 
1776,  of  1812,  and  of  1861. 

The  son  of  the  first  John  Tyler  was  known  as  John  Tyler, 
Esq.  He  was  a  man  of  note  in  his  day,  and  married  his 
cousin,  Elizabeth  Tyler.  His  sou  John,  the  third  John  Tyler, 
was,  by  royal  appointment,  marshal  of  the  colony.  John 
Tyler,  the  marshal,  married  Anne  Contesse,  the  daughter 
of  Dr.  Lewis  Contesse,  a  French  Huguenot  of  nerve  and 
character. 

He  left  several  daughters,  and  two  sons,  John  and  Lewis. 
John,  the  elder,  and  the  father  of  President  Tyler,  lived  to 
attain  high  honors.  He  was  a  distinguished  Revolutionary 
patriot,  and  a  zealous  leader  in  the  cause  of  the  American 
colonies.  He  was  an  eminent  jurist,  and  as  judge  of  admiralty 
he  decided  the  first  prize  case  which  occurred  after  independence 
was  declared,  holding  his  court  under  a  large  golden  willow, 
which  stood  in  the  yard  at  Green  way.  He  was  the  bosom 
friend  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  After  independence  was  achieved, 
he  was  speaker  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  and  was  a  judge  of 
the  State  District  Court;  was  governor  of  the  State  from  1808 
to  1811,  and  ultimately  judge  of  the  United  States  District 
Court  until  he  died. 

Many  rare  and  rich  anecdotes  are  told  of  his  life.  At  the 
christening  of  his  first-born  son,  when  the  name  of  the  child 
was  announced, — "  Wat  Henry  Tyler," — Mr.  Henry  being  pres 
ent  and  somewhat  surprised,  nervously  asked  "why  that  name 
was  selected."  The  mother  replied,  "  We  have  so  named 
him,  sir,  after  the  two  greatest  British  rebels,  Wat  Tyler  and 
Patrick  Henry."  And  the  watch-seal  which  he  wore  when  he 
died  was  presented  to  him  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  with  the  initials 
"  T.  J."  engraved  on  its  face,  reading  forward  "  Thomas  Jeffer 
son,"  and  backward  "John  Tyler." 

In  Abell's  "  Life  of  President  Tyler,"  we  have  a  sweet  story 
of  his  saving  Patrick  Henry  from  an  awful  repulse  by  a  hostess, 
who,  when  told  that  they  were  members  of  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses  flying  before  Arnold's  invasion,  was  indignant  that  they 
were  running  away  when  her  husband  had  just  left  her  to  meet 


THE  FIRST  DECADE.  23 

the  invader.  He  had  to  vouch  for  Mr.  Henry's  being  himself; 
and  when  convinced  of  that  fact,  such  was  her  confidence  in 
him  that  if  he  ran  away,  all  was  right;  it  obtained  for  them 
shelter  and  food  for  the  night. 

Another  anecdote  illustrative  of  the  man,  and  not  yet  written, 
was  related  by  the  late  General  M.  Pitts,  the  father  of  Judge 
E.  P.  Pitts,  late  of  the  Norfolk  Circuit.  He  was  a  student  of 
law  in  the  office  of  John  Wise,  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  when  he  was  ready  to  apply  for  his  license,  Mr. 
Wise  gave  him  a  letter  to  Judge  Tyler,  then  of  the  District 
Court,  residing  at  Norfolk.  He  was  a  young  man  of  great 
promise,  and  afterwards  distinguished  in  his  profession,  but 
was  exceedingly  diffident  and  awkward.  He  reached  Norfolk, 
and  easily  found  the  judge's  office,  but  the  judge  was  not  in. 
His  clerk  received  young  Pitts  politely,  took  his  letter  of  intro 
duction,  and  invited  him  to  await  the  judge's  return,  expected 
every  moment.  He  sat  down,  anxiously  awaiting  the  awful 
appearance  of  the  strange  judge.  Suddenly  a  fine  horse  dashed 
up  to  the  office  door,  mounted  by  a  grand-looking,  erect  rider, 
venerable  and  commanding  in  his  mien,  with  powdered  hair 
neatly  queued,  wearing  the  shad-cut  coat  with  long-flap  waist 
coat,  shirt  ruffled  at  bosom  and  wristbands,  with  shorts  and  knee- 
buckles  and  white  topboots.  He  dismounted  abruptly,  stalked 
in,  dashed  off  his  buck-skin  gauntlets,  threw  his  whip  on  the 
table,  and  began  to  walk  and  talk  to  himself,  violently  exclaim 
ing,  "  Yes  !  I  will  teach  the  upstart  what  the  rights  of  land 
proprietors  are  !  He  is  so  little  of  a  gentleman,  and  so  much 
of  an  ignoramus,  that  he  has  no  idea  of  land-titles  or  rights, 
or  the  laws  which  protect  them!" 

The  truth  was  he  had  had  a  hot  collision  with  the  "  super 
visor"  of  the  streets,  who  had  encroached,  as  he  thought,  on  his 
lot,  and  he  had  returned  to  his  office  before  his  passion  was  cool, 
and  neither  his  clerk  nor  Pitts  knew  what  the  soliloquy  was 
about.  He  had  entered  without  noticing  young  Pitts,  and  con 
tinued  soliloquizing  aloud  as  he  stalked  the  room,  swearing  not 
a  little,  and  commenting  in  such  a  mood  that  the  clerk  did  not 
venture  to  present  the  letter  of  young  Pitts,  who  sat  trembling 


24  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

with  apprehension.  "  Was  ever  judge  in  such  a  humor  wooed 
for  a  law  license  ?" 

At  last  the  clerk  caught  a  lull  in  the  storm,  and  handed  him 
the  letter.  Pitts  timidly  rose,  and  the  judge,  holding  the  letter, 
read  it,  and  exclaimed,  "  Young  gentleman,  my  friend  John 
Wise,  Esq.,  tells  me  you  wish  to  be  a  lawyer." 

"Yes,  sir,"  replied  Pitts,  "if  you  will  be  pleased  to  sign  my 
license  ;  but — but — I  can  come  at  another  time,  if  it  please  you, 
sir,  better."  He  hoped  to  be  let  off  from  the  hour  of  wrath  and 
bad  omens  for  lenity  in  the  examination. 

The  judge  exclaimed,  "  No,  young  gentleman  ;  I  can  tell  now 
by  a  single  question  whether  you  are  fit  to  be  a  lawyer  or 
not."  Then  raising  his  voice  to  a  higher  pitch,  he  asked, 
"  Can  you  tell  me  the  meaning  of  the  word  '  supervisor  T  ' 

Pitts  was  overwhelmed :  he  thought  there  was  a  "  catch"  in 
the  word  ;  perplexed,  he  looked  down,  tasted  his  lips  for  a 
reply,  the  judge's  eye  glaring  on  him  bewildered.  At  last,  hesi 
tatingly  and  half  choked,  he  muttered,  "Judge,  I — I  hardly — 
know — any  technical — meaning, — but — suppose — its  common 
meaning  is — 'super' — 'over' — and  '  video'  to  see — the  noun — 
1  overseer !' " 

Eagerly  the  judge  exclaimed,  "  Yes,  young  man,  you  have 
hit  it  exactly.  He  is  on  the  stilts  of  '  supervisor,''  just  as  if  he 
was  lord  of  the  manors  and  of  all  the  owners,  and  all  the  time 
he  is  nothing  but  ad — d  vulgar  'overseer.'  You  know  the 
meaning  of  words,  sir,  and  interpret  truly,  and  are  fit  to  be  a 
lawyer.  Give  me  your  license,  and  I  will  sign  it  with  pleasure/ 

In  a  moment  he  was  calm,  signed  the  license,  pressed  upon 
young  Pitts  every  kindness,  and  sent  him  back  home  rejoicing  ! 

December  llth,  1808,  in  a  note  dated  at  Greenway,  he  ac 
cepted  the  office  of  governor  of  Virginia,  and  he  filled  that 
office  with  distinguished  vigor  of  intellect  and  nerve  for  about 
three  years,  resigning  to  accept  the  office  of  judge  of  the  Dis 
trict  Court  of  the  United  States,  which  office  he  honored  until 
his  death  in  1813. 

One  has  but  to  read  his  messages  whilst  governor  to  see  the 
intellect,  the  integrity,  the  courage,  the  patriotic  fervor,  the 


THE  FIRST  DECADE.  25 

pure  and  stern  republicanism,  and  the  prophetic  power  of  a 
watchful,  jealous  lover  of  popular  liberty.  In  his  message  of 
December  3d,  1810,  denouncing  the  effects  of  foreign  influ 
ence  and  commerce  upon  our  country  and  its  destiny,  he 
said :  "  It  produces  also  what  is  called  in  polite  circles  citizens 
of  the  world, — the  worst  citizens  in  the  world,  who,  having  no 
attachments  to  any  country,  make  to  themselves  wings  to  fly 
away  with  from  impending  dangers."  Again,  speaking  of 
the  Court  of  Appeals,  he  denounced  its  example  and  habit  of 
relying  so  much  upon  British  cases  as  precedents,  applying  to 
cases  under  American  institutions.  He  seems  to  have  had  an 
instinctive  perception  of  the  danger  of  citing  the  maxims  of 
British  monarchy,  and  the  doctrines  and  dogmas  laid  down  by 
Blackstone,  and  by  judges  who  were  keepers  of  a  king's  con 
science. 

He  was  afraid  of  the  effect  which  he  foresaw  it  would  have, 
and  has  had,  in  gradually  undermining  republican  ideas  and 
overthrowing  the  sovereignty  of  the  people.  He  accused  the 
highest  court  and  the  bar  of  British  "  case  mania,"  and  of  sub 
serviency  «to  their  lordships  and  barons  of  British  courts.  He 
urged  the  duty  of  revising  and  codifying  the  common  law,  se 
lecting  only  such  of  its  maxims  and  such  of  its  popular  princi 
ples  as  suited  our  system  of  democracy,  taking  its  maxims 
without  its  cases ;  proving  propositions  by  the  maxims,  not 
proving  the  maxims  by  the  propositions ;  and  ends  by  saying: 
"  Shall  we  forever  administer  our  free  republican  government 
on  principles  of  rigid  high-toned  monarchy?  I  almost  blush 
for  my  country  when  I  think  of  these  things  !" 

January  15th,  1811,  he  notified  the  legislature  that  he  had 
accepted  the  judgeship  of  the  United  States  District  Court 
of  Virginia;  and  he  was  succeeded  in  the  office  of  governor 
by  James  Monroe.  He  was  a  noble  specimen  of  the  ''booted 
and  spurred  cavalier"  of  colonial  times, — a  ruffled  gentleman 
of  great  learning  and  mental  force,  and  a  man  of  unspotted 
name  for  honor,  truth,  integrity,  and  pluck.  He  was  univer 
sally  known,  respected,  and  loved  throughout  the  State, — so 
much  so  that,  though  in  the  midst  of  the  war  when  he  died,  in 


26  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

1813,  the  General  Assembly  paid  his  remains  and  memory  un 
usual  honors,  such  as  have  never  been  paid  to  those  of  any  man, 
except  the  Father  of  his  Country,  before  or  since. 

The  maternal  line  of  President  Tyler  was  not  less  distin 
guished.  His  mother  was  Mary  Armistead,  of  Buck  Rowe,  in 
the  county  of  Elizabeth  City,  on  the  Back  River,  looking  out 
upon  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  in  sight  of  now  Fortress 
Monroe. 

The  Armisteads,  of  Buck  Rowe,  and  those  of  Hesse,  in  Mat 
thews,  formerly  a  part  of  Gloucester,  in  Virginia,  sprang  from 
the  Hesse  Armistead  family  in  Germany.  The  propositus  of 
this  family  came  from  England  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
fixed  his  residence  at  Hesse,  in  the  county  of  what  was  then 
called  Gloucester,  on  the  south  bank,  and  near  the  mouth,  of 
Piankatank  River.  The  daughters  of  this  family  have  been 
strikingly  remarkable  for  their  strength  of  character  and  beauty 
of  person,  and  the  continuous  line  of  male  descendants  has 
marked  the  name  of  hero  after  hero  on  the  tablets  of  their 
country's  history.  The  "  Star -Spangled  Banner"  is  blended 
with  the  name  of  Colonel  George  Armistead,  the  defender  of 
Fort  Mcllenry  in  the  war  of  1812.  He  was  fighting  the  in 
vader  while  Francis  Key  was  writing  the  anthem,  "our  flag 
is  still  there  !"  His  brother,  General  Walker  Armistead,  won 
his  laurels  and  lost  an  arm  in  the  same  brilliant  battle.  Two 
other  brothers  lost  their  lives  in  the  assault  upon  Fort.  Erie,  in 
the  war  of  1812;  and  he  who  was  lately  killed  at  Gettysburg, 
leading  a  Confederate  division  against  "certain  death,"  was 
the  son  of  General  Walker  Armistead.  Armistead  T.  Mason, 
senator  of  the  United  States,  through  his  mother;  and  Gary 
and  William  Selden,  through  their  mother;  and  General  Robert 
E.  Lee,  through  his  ancestress,  Judith  Armistead  ;  and  Presi 
dent  John  Tyler,  through  his  mother,  Mary  Armistead,  all  alike 
in  the  maternal  line  sprang  from  the  root  of  the  same  family  tree. 

But  no  matter  what  her  blood,  or  whether  she  could  trace  a 
title  from  what  is  now  derisively  called  the  F.  F.  Y.'s  or  not,  she 
was  Mary  Armistead,  of  Buck  Rowe,  instinct  with  life,  beauty, 
and  virtue ;  and  we  emphatically  pronounce,  from  all  that  is 


THE  FIRST  DECADE.  2t 

known  and  can  be  gathered  from  tradition,  that  one  of  the  pre 
vailing  causes  of  the  greatness  of  the  men  of  that  period,  was 
the  lovely  and  noble  character  of  the  mothers  of  the  men  of 
that  day. 

They  were  eminently  strong,  and  yet  pure,  refined,  chaste, 
delicate,  and  modest,  given  to  household  cares,  frugal,  practical, 
and  compelled  to  be  heedful  of  the  life  and  its  events  around 
them,  challenging  the  practice  of  wisdom  and  virtue,  and  de 
manding  every  effort  of  body  and  mind. 

Mary  Armistead,  like  most  other  ladies  of  her  day,  was, — 

"One 

Not  learned,  save  in  gracious  household  ways ; 
Not  perfect,  nay,  but  full  of  tender  wants; 
No  angel,  but  a  dearer  being,  all  dipt 
In  angel  instincts,  breathing  Paradise, 
Interpreter  between  the  gods  and  men ; 
Who  looked  all  native  to  her  place,  and  yet 
On  tiptoe  seemed  to  touch  upon  a  sphere 
Too  gross  to  tread,  and  all  male  minds  perforce 
Swayed  to  her  from  their  orbits  as  they  moved, 
And  girdled  her  with  music.     Happy  he 
With  such  a  mother!  faith  in  womankind 
Beats  with  his  blood,  and  trust  in  all  things  high 
Comes  easy  to  him,  and  though  he  trip  and  fall 
He  shall  not  blind  his  soul  with  clay." 

Woman,  as  well  as  man,  had  her  part  in  the  great  dramas 
then  acted,  and  her  part  required  great  naturalness  as  well  as 
romance,  and  uncommon  grace  as  well  as  a  capacity  for  great 
uses,  in  her  acting.  The  women  at  that  day  were  principally 
formed  by  education  at  home.  There  was  no  meretricious  train 
ing  of  misses  at  the  domestic  schools  where  mother  was  mis 
tress.  Rarely  a  few  "  finished"  at  some  such  school  as  Mrs. 
Davenport's,  at  Williamsburg.  We  remember  well  the  cramped, 
Italian-like  chirography  of  the  last  of  the  pupils  of  that  school. 

These  pupils  were  bland  in  their  tone  as  the  proudest  dames 
of  court  when  the  colony  had  a  palace  ;  and  yet  they  were 
taught  to  cut  out  and  cure  hams  of  cherry-red  juices  sweeter 
than  the  "  Be-kan"-raised  of  Westphalia ;  they  could  arrange 


28  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

the  warping-bars,  turn  the  spindles,  wind  the  skein,  darn  the 
stockings,  and,  walking  over  the  floors  of  waxen  cleanness,  see 
to  pantry  and  laundry.  And  oh,  what  sweet  charities  their 
perfumed  presence  shed  around  home,  husband,  and  children, 
guests,  servants,  the  poor,  and  the  church  !  Physicians  and 
nurses  skilled  in  every  balmy  herb  and  soothing  salve,  at  home 
and  in  the  neighborhood  around,  blessing  and  blessed  by  all, 
they  could  not  but  be  fresh  and  fair,  and  happy  as  beautiful. 
One  supreme  duty  marked  these  mothers.  All  had  to  work, 
and  the  lessons  of  the  children  must  be  gotten,  come  what 
would.  Even  war  did  not  more  than  stay  that  duty;  and  the 
long  winter  nights  were  the  happiest  hours  for  the  homestead 
tasks.  Feast  and  frolic  made  the  house  warm  and  bright  for 
children  and  servants  when  the  tasks  were  done.  Sons  and 
daughters  at  all  odds,  even  amidst  the  whirring  of  spindles  and 
the  rumbling  of  warping-bars  for  woof  and  web  to  clothe  fami 
lies  in  domestic  fine  linen,  had  to  study  their  lessons  until  the 
tasks  were  relieved  by  waiters  full  of  nuts  and  cakes  and  taffy, 
brought  in  as  signals  of  fun  and  tale-telling,  and  chitchat  bois 
terous  with  glee,  until  the  hour  of  rest,  when  all  tiptoed  to  bed. 
These  were  no  rude  scenes  of  peasantry  or  yeomanry.  Gentle 
manners,  grace,  order,  and  decorum,  presided  in  stately  form, 
but  bright  and  cheerful.  The  mother  of  these  domestic  scenes, 
when  an  affair  of  state  came  on,  was  a  queenly  woman, — high, 
commanding,  stately,  whether  at  the  table  or  in  the  saloon,  at 
the  dinner  or  in  the  dance  ;  she  could  talk  of  stately  matters 
with  bewitching  wisdom,  or  play  her  smiling,  classic  wit  or 
humor  like  a  fairy,  and  command  men  to  do  her  homage,  due 
only  to  dignity,  sense,  sweetness,  and  grace.  And  when  the 
season  of  chirping  spring  would  come,  flowers  of  sweetness 
and  of  taste  bloomed  around  her;  midsummer's  harvest  was 
made  to  smile  with  her  bounty,  and  autumn's  fruits  were  pre 
served  by  her, — thoughtful  provisions  for  coming  winter.  She 
made  home  happy  and  healthful  as  it  was  hospitable,  without 
stint,  or  sham,  or  seeming.  To  guest  and  family  alike  it  was  a 
warm  home  of  unaffected,  liberal,  wooing  welcome.  There  was 
no  place  on  earth  where  the  word  "  domesticity" — sacred  to  the 


THE  FIRST  DECADE.  29 

household  gods — meant  more  than  it  did  then  at  such  homes 
as  Greenway  and  Buck  Rowe,  in  the  plantations  of  all  the 
peninsulas  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay  of  Virginia. 

The  homes  of  Green  way  and  Buck  Rowe  were  made  one 
house  by  the  marriage  of  John  Tyler  and  Mary  Armistead,  the 
father  and  mother  of  John  Tyler,  Jr.  And  we  should  omit  a 
pertinent  and  poetic  theme  in  its  story  if  we  did  not  sketch  at 
least  a  description  of  the  Peninsula  and  the  population  in 
which  these  homes  flourished  and  bore  such  precious  fruits  in 
their  day  and  generation. 

Greenway  and  Warburton  are  in  a  section  of  the  Peninsula 
between  the  historical,  majestic  James  and  the  consecrated 
banks  of  the  York  River.  They  are  not  far  from  the  old 
'Capitol,  and  the  old  Raleigh,  and  the  powder-magazine  at 
Williamsburg,  or  from  the  old  redoubts  at  Yorktown;  and 
the  first  and  last  events  of  the  Revolution  of  '76  have  there, 
at  these  spots,  and  all  around  them,  their  local  habitations  and 
their  names ;  every  turf  is  a  soldier's  sepulchre,  and  every  hall 
was  the  scene  of  some  sayings  or  doings  of  sages  and  heroes 
who  set  the  first  ball  of  the  Revolution  in  motion.  After  it 
had  bowled  over  the  Atlantic  slope, — at  Lexington  and  Boston 
Harbor  and  Bunker  Hill,  at  Princeton  and  Trenton  and  Ger- 
mantown,  at  Monmouth  Court  House  and  Chadd's  Ford  and 
Stony  Point  and  Ticonderoga,  at  King's  Mountain  and  Guil- 
ford  and  Eutaw  and  Camden  and  Charleston,  at  the  Great 
Bridge  and  Hicksford, — it  ricocheted  back  again,  and  was  spent 
at  Cornwallis's  surrender  at  Yorktown,  within  twelve  miles 
of  where  it  started,  at  the  powder-magazine  in  Williamsburg. 
And  that  powder-magazine  is  still  standing  ;  and  now, — oh, 
shame  to  this  old  city's  corporate  authorities! — after  being  used 
as  a  temple  of  the  living  God,  it  has  been  sold  by  the  corpora 
tion  of  Williamsburg,  and  con-verted  by  the  purchaser  into  a 
horse-stable, — a  monument  of  the  contrast  of  the  present  with 
the  past. 

This  Peninsula  was  thus  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  the  scenes 
of  the  American  Revolution.  It  is  a  land  of  genial  climate,  of 
generous  soil,  of  majestic  rivers,  of  fruitful  fertility  of  fields, 


30  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

and  of  forests  of  richest  frondage, — above  all  distinguished  for 
its  men  and  women.  It  was  settled  by  a  race,  or  rather  stock, 
of  families,  the  like  of  which  will  rarely  be  seen  again, — so 
manly,  so  refined,  so  intelligent,  so  spirited,  proud,  self-reliant, 
independent,  strong,  so  fresh  and  so  free.  The  family  names 
of  this  Peninsula  known  to  honor  and  to  fame  are  countless, — 
the  Armisteads,  Boilings,  Byrds,  Blairs,  Burwells,  Amblers, 
Carters,  Cloptons,  Christians,  Carys,  Dandridges,  Digges,  Fon 
taines,  Gregorys,  Harrisons,  Coles,  Inneses,  Mallorys,  Nichol 
sons  and  Nicholases,  Randolphs,  Pages,  Nelsons,  Kennons, 
Griffins,  Barrens,  Sclaters,  Shields,  Dudleys,  Tuckers,  Tylers, 
Tabbs,  Tazewells,  Wallers,  Peachys,  Saunders,  Wythes,  Light- 
foots,  Semples,  Bassetts,  and  others  no  less  known,  from  whom 
have  sprung  names  of  note  in  every  Southern  and  Western 
State,  as  well  as  in  other  parts  of  Virginia. 

Many  heads  of  these  families  were  themselves  educated  in 
the  schools  of  the  old  country,  and  they  employed  tutors  in 
their  households,  who  were  scholars  of  no  mean  grade,  from 
the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Glasgow  and  Dublin.  They 
lived  neighborly  in  peace  and  plenty,  "  guided  by  law  and 
bound  by  duty."  Owning  boundless  broad  acres,  fair  and  fer 
tile,  without  wants  which  they  could  not  supply  by  home-made, 
of  plain  habits,  genial  in  intercourse,  and  profuse  in  hospitality, 
every  manor  was  one  of  gentle  graces  and  of  manly  bearing. 
The  sons  and  the  Di  Vernon  daughters  had  their  packs  of 
hounds  and  bugles  for  the  horn-music  of  frosty  mornings,  and 
duck  and  plover,  bounding  deer  and  wild  turkey,  partridge  and 
woodcock  and  snipe,  rabbit  and  coon  and  opossum,  were  their 
game  and  sport. 

Every  boy  had  his  horse,  and  lived  in  the  saddle :  there  were 
riders  in  those  days.  Thus  minds  and  bodies  of  men  and 
women  were  trained  to  the  nerve-tunes  of  health  and  strength 
and  burly  freshness ;  and  manners  and  morals  were  brought  up 
in  all  gentleness  and  grace  to  make  a  glad,  social,  and  glorious 
political  state.  The  times  taught  them  wisdom,  and  to  prac 
tice  vigilance,  prudence,  endurance,  industry,  self-denial,  and 
patriotic  devotion.  Masters,  tutors,  teachers,  of  the  schools  of 


THE  FIRST  DECADE.  31 

Europe,  were  residing  in  every  neighborhood  throughout  all  the 
peninsulas  of  Virginia,  and  they  prepared  the  knights  and 
ladies  at  home  for  graduation  at  the  principal  schools  of  Wil 
liam  and  Mary  and  of  Mrs.  Davenport's  in  Williamsburg. 
They  were  all  proficients  in  the  Humanities,  and  trained  the 
generation  which  immediately  succeeded  the  Fathers  of  the 
Revolution,  and  which  was  so  distinguished  in  state  papers 
and  in  the  debates  on  law  and  politics. 

We  once  had  a  conversation  with  Benjamin  Watkins  Leigh, 
at  Callaghan's,  in  the  mountains.  He  was  speaking  of  thorough 
teaching. 

"  Why,  sir,"  said  he,  "the  people  nowadays  can't  spell  and 
can't  accentuate.  Editors  of  the  newspapers  spell  'expense' 
with  a  '  c ;'  and  no  one  nowadays  pronounces  '  a-c-c-e-p-t-a-b-1-e' 
correctly." 

"  Well,  Mr.  Leigh,  how  do  you  pronounce  it  ?" 

"  I  pronounce  it  acceptable,  of  course,"  said  he. 

"  But  Johnson  and  Walker  pronounce  it  either  '  acceptable' 
or  'accept/able.'  " 

"  And  who  looks  to  Johnson,  or  Walker,  or  any  mere  lexi 
cographer,"  he  replied,  "  for  accent  or  pronunciation  ?" 

"  We  look  to  good  lexicographers  for  reputable  use." 

"  And  who  cares  for  '  reputable  use'  when  it  is  against  the 
laws  of  grammar  ?"  said  he. 

"  And  who  taught  you  the  laws  of  grammar  ?" 

"  I  was  taught  my  lessons  of  the  laws  of  grammar  by 
Needier  Robinson,  in  the  parish  of  Dale,  in  the  county  of 
Chesterfield." 

"And  who  was  Needier  Robinson?" 

He  looked  at  his  collocutor  with  surprise  which  expressed 
that  he  must  be  himself  unknown,  never  to  have  heard  of 
Needier  Robinson. 

"  Needier  Robinson  was  a  Scotch  scholar,  the  friend  of  my 
father,  the  parson  of  the  parish,  and  he  was  my  teacher.  It 
was  the  joy  of  my  boyhood  to  sit  at  Robinson's  knee  and  listen 
to  his  conversations  with  my  father  and  John  Randolph's 
mother,  who  then  lived  at  Mattoax.  The  world  thought  her 


32  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

son  spake  as  never  man  spake,  but  she  could  charm  a  bird  out 
of  the  tree  by  the  music  of  her  tongue ;  and  Needier  Robinson 
taught  us  all,  young  and  old.  He  taught  me  the  laws  of  my 
mother  tongue." 

And  what  Needier  Robinson  was  to  Benjamin  Watkins 
Leigh  in  Chesterfield,  a  Mr.  McMurdo,  another  Scotchman, 
was  to  John  Tyler  and  his  schoolmates  in  Charles  City.  Both 
Leigh  and  Tyler  were  alumni  of  William  and  Mary,  and  in 
after-life  brought  home  to  their  Alma  Mater  their  sheaves  of 
distinction  and  honors  for  her  training. 

Those  old  Scotch  schoolmasters  were  awfully  severe,  and 
McMurdo's  harshness  to  a  certain  good-natured  Luke  Lubin, 
of  his  pupils,  caused  a  rebellion  in  the  school  to  mob  the  master, 
iu  which  the  boy  John  Tyler  was  a  rebel  leader. 

This  was  hardly  to  be  expected  from  his  nature.  He  was  a 
slender  child,  of  silken  hair,  with  a  twinkling  bright  eye,  and 
genial  smile ;  a  singular  face,  with  a  very  prominent,  thin 
Roman  nose,  which  gave  exaggerated  expression  to  his  look 
of  comic  goodness. 

His  face  of  manhood  was  not  unlike  the  pictures  of  Charles 
the  First  of  England,  especially  that  picture  of  the  monarch 
when  the  mob  made  him  drink  a  cup  of  wine.  His  expression 
was  that  of  playful,  soft,  bland  mildness.  He  was  a  delicate 
boy,  no  pupil  of  Zeno,  and  no  Centaur;  rather  effeminate,  imag 
inative,  flexile,  versatile,  and  mercurial  as  a  girl ;  sincere,  frank, 
affectionate,  benevolent  and  generous,  gleeful  and  social,  seek 
ing  innocent  sports  among  the  young,  but  preferring  and  de 
lighting  in  a  reverential  companionship  with  his  seniors  in  age 
and  experience.  An  eminent  trait  in  his  character  was  rever 
ence.  His  intercourse  with  the  sages  around  him  always  struck 
him  with  awe  and  inspiration,  and  thus  he  was  teachable  more 
by  association  with  his  betters  than  by  much  reading  of  books ; 
but  his  ambition  was  healthful,  and  kept  him  posted  in  letters, 
and  he  had  quick  perception  and  great  power  of  appropriating 
what  he  heard  or  read.  At  about  the  age  of  thirteen,  in  the 
year  1803,  he  was  sent  by  his  father  to  reside  with  Judge 
James  Semple,  at  Williamsburg,  and  entered  the  grammar- 


THE  FIRST  DECADE.  33 

school  of  William  and  Mary.  In  a  year  or  two  he  entered  the 
college, — perhaps  in  1804,  though  his  name  does  not  appear 
in  the  college-rolls  before  1806.  He  was  then  in  a  class  with 
John  J.  Crittenden  of  Kentucky,  William  S.  Archer,  Linn  Banks, 
William  Crump  of  Powhatan,  John  F.  May,  and  others  after 
wards  distinguished  in  life.  His  room-mate  was  Judge  Briscoe 
G.  Baldwin,  of  Staunton,  whom  he  loved  and  honored  much, 
though  their  names  were  enrolled  in  different  years  in  the 
catalogue. 

He  graduated  in  1807,  at  seventeen  years  of  age,  showing 
that  his  progress  was  rapid  and  his  development  precocious. 
He  was  a  pet  of  Bishop  Madison,  then  presiding,  and  always 
spoke  of  him  as  the  father  of  his  instruction. 

To  show  how  he  could  win  men  in  spite  of  their  prejudices, 
he  was  in  the  convention  of  1861,  which  passed  the  ordinances 
of  secession.  Colonel  John  B.  Baldwin,  the  son  of  Judge 
Briscoe  G.  Baldwin,  was  a  member.  His  politics  differed  widely 
from  Mr.  Tyler's.  Mr.  Tyler  from  his  youth  up  was  a  Demo 
crat  of  the  order  of  Jefferson,  whilst  Judge  Baldwin  had  edu 
cated  his  son  in  the  ultra  school  of  Alexander  Hamilton.  He 
abided  not  any  school  or  schoolmen  of  Democracy ;  was  op 
posed  to  secession  ;  was  for  peace,  or  prevention  of  war,  on 
almost  any  terms  ;  made  a  speech  for  which  he  was  crowned  by 
a  Boston  woman  with  flowery  wreaths,  as  the  champion  of  the 
Union  in  the  convention;  and  uttered  sentiments  and  argu 
ments  which  bound  him,  it  was  thought,  on  principle,  to  unite 
himself  with  the  Northern  cause  against  his  native  valley  land 
of  Virginia.  He  especially  opposed  Mr.  Tyler's  views  on  the 
report  of  the  Commissioners  of  Virginia  respecting  the  results 
of  the  Peace  Conference  at  Washington.  His  Whig  prejudices, 
indeed,  against  Mr.  Tyler,  for  long-past  bitterness  of  his  party, 
for  reason  of  his  bank  vetoes,  and  other  matters  of  difference, 
kept  him  aloof  from  his  society.  He  had  avoided  personal  con 
tact  with  him.  But  at  last  the  ladies  of  the  two  house*  met 
at  the  hotel  where  they  me-ssed,  and  brought  them  together. 
Mr.  Tyler  had  observed  Colonel  Baldwin's  avoidance  of  him, 
if  not  his  aversion  to  him  ;  and  one  morning  he  walked  up  to 

3 


34  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

him,  and  drew  a  paper  from  his  bosom  and  asked  him  to  read 
it.  It  was  a  letter  to  Mr.  Tyler  from  Colonel  Baldwin's  father, 
written  late  in  life.  It  proved  that  Judge  Briscoe  G.  Baldwin 
knew,  loved,  and  honored  John  Tyler,  and  it  subdued  the  son's 
aversion,  and  made  him  honor  and  respect  the  man  of  whom 
his  honored  father  was  proud  to  be  a  friend. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE    SECOND   DECADE,    FROM   18OO    TO   181O. 

The  Aggressions  of  England  and  France  upon  Neutrals,  and  the  Rejection  of 
the  American  Mission  by  France— Commencement  of  the  American  Navy — 
The  Effect  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  causing  the  Kentucky  and  Vir 
ginia  Resolutions  of  1798 — The  Presidential  Election  in  1800,  overthrowing 
the  Federal  Party,  and  dividing  the  Democratic  by  the  Contest  of  Burr  for 
the  First  Place  on  the  Ticket— Peace  with  the  First  Consul,  and  the  Acqui 
sition  of  Louisiana — Disunion  Sentiments  in  the  North  in  1803,  on  account 
of  the  Treaty  with  France — The  Lewis  and  Clarke  Expedition — The  Orders 
in  Council,  and  the  Imperial  Decrees — The  Attack  of  the  Leopard  on  the 
Chesapeake  — The  Embargo  Act— Preparations  for  War— The  War  turned 
over  to  the  Madison  Term — What  Mr.  Jefferson  did  for  Science. 

THE  election  of  Jefferson  and  Burr  in  the  year  1800  was  not 
more  a  revolution  of  parties  than  of  principles  and  measures  of 
administration. 

The  mission  of  the  United  States  to  France,  consisting  of 
John  Marshall,  Elbridge  Gerry,  and  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinck- 
ney,  was  repulsed  at  court  with  contumely,  and  withdrew, 
Pinckney  declaring  the  noble  sentiment  which  became  a  motto 
in  the  war  with  France  on  the  ocean,  and  afterwards  in  the  war 
with  England  on  sea  and  land, — "Millions  for  defense;  not  a 
cent  for  tribute." 

The  first  regular  navy  was  begun  by  building  the  two  illus 
trious  frigates,  in  1798,  the  "Constitution"  and  the  "United 
States;"  and  Decatur  in  the  "Delaware,"  and  Truxton  in  the 
"  Constellation,"  and  numerous  prizes  of  our  privateers,  proved 
that  we  were  more  than  a  match  for  Frenchmen,  and  trained 
our  seamen  somewhat  for  meeting  the  British  navy  afterwards 
on  the  high  seas. 

Before  the  twelfth  amendment  of  the  Constitution,  in  1804, 
the  President  and  Vice-President  were  voted  for  indiscriminately 

(35) 


36  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

on  the  same  ticket,  and,  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr  re 
ceiving  an  equal  number  of  votes  on  the  same  ticket  in  1800, 
the  House  of  Representatives  had  to  choose  by  ballot  which 
should  be  President,  and  which  Vice-President,  of  the  United 
States.  To  determine  the  choice  there  were  thirty-six  ballots. 
The  Federalists  united  with  a  minority  of  the  Democrats  upon 
Burr,  and  this  struggle  added  much  to  the  acrimony  of  party 
spirit  at  the  time.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  finally  chosen,  on  the  17th 
of  February,  1801. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  then  First  Consul  of  France,  seeing  how 
Canada  and  all  the  French  possessions  in  America  had  been 
wrested  from  him  by  the  superior  naval  and  merchant  marine  of 
Great  Britain,  and  needing  money  for  the  schemes  of  his  bound 
less  ambition  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  made  peace  with  the 
United  States,  and  ceded  the  whole  territory  of  Louisiana  to 
them  in  April,  1803,  for  the  sum  of  fifteen  millions  of  dollars. 

This  was  a  bold  and  immense  measure  of  administration  for 
so  young  a  nation,  and  changed  at  once  the  whole  horoscope 
of  its  future.  It  bore  immediately,  and  has  ever  since  contin 
uously  borne,  upon  the  destiny  of  the  United  States  with  more 
incalculable  effect  than  any  other  stroke  of  policy  ever  did,  or 
probably  ever  can.  It  extended  our  boundary  to  the  Pacific, 
and  gave  to  us  the  whole  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the 
jurisdiction  of  its  mouth.  It  was  the  first  acquisition  of  terri 
tory  by  the  Federal  Union  under  the  Constitution  of  1787,  other 
wise  than  by  cessions  of  the  States.  This  territory,  ceded  by 
France  to  Spain  in  1764,  was  on  the  1st  of  October,  1800,  by 
the  treaty  concluded  at  St.  Ildefonso,  retroceded  to  France  ; 
and  its  boundaries  had  been  determined  by  the  treaty  of  San 
Lorenzo  between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  made  by  Thomas 
Pinckney  and  the  Prince  of  Peace,  on  the  27th  of  October,  1795. 
It  was  ceded  by  France  to  the  United  States  with  the  same 
extent  which  it  had  when  in  the  possession  of  Spain. 

This  first  and  sudden  leap  of  the  United  States  to  so  vast  an 
empire  laid  the  foundation  for  a  permanent  and  progressive 
change  of  policy  and  of  destiny  for  the  infant  giant, — yet  an 
infant  nation,  made  at  once  a  giant  by  this  immense  acquisition 


THE  SECOND  DECADE.  37 

of  territory,  inviting  an  immense  immigration,  and  rousing 
the  most  rankling  sectional  jealousies  and  strifes. 

Here  was  indeed  a  cause,  commencing  with  the  beginning  of 
the  first  century  after  the  birth  of  the  nation,  for  a  thorough 
revolution  and  reformation  of  policy  and  of  political  parties  and 
principles.  The  Federalists  at  once  attacked  the  measure,  and 
the  northern  and  non-slaveholding  section  of  the  country  was 
startled  and  alarmed  by  its  adoption. 

The  struggle  at  once  commenced  as  to  whether  the  acquired 
territory  should  be  "  free  soil"  or  not.  The  Federalists,  the 
most  latitudinarian  in  the  construction  of  the  Constitution, — 
those  even  who  advocated  the  charter  of  a  national  bank,  and 
justified  the  enactment  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws, — sud 
denly  became  strict  constructionists,  and  assailed  the  acquisition 
as  unconstitutional. 

And  New  England  was  suspicious  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  motives, 
thinking  that  his  aim  was  to  make  the  measure  kick  the  beam 
of  power  in  favor  of  his  own  slaveholding  section. 

The  North,  having  the  shipping  of  the  country,  and  most  in 
tercourse  with  and  transportation  to  and  from  Europe,  looked 
at  once  to  immigration  for  the  control  of  the  settlements  of  the 
newly-acquired  territory.  They  ought  to  have  foreseen  that  it, 
more  than  any  other  cause,  would  increase  their  preponderance 
in  the  Union ;  but  they  feared  its  effect  upon  their  relative  po 
litical  strength,  and  blindly,  without  cause,  manifested  a  strong 
disposition  and  made  some  concealed  movements  for  a  dissolu 
tion  of  the  Union  and  a  separation  from  the  Southern  States 
This,  long  afterwards,  was  exposed  by  Mr.  John  Q.  Adams, 
and  is  now  being  more  fully  revealed  by  sundry  publication* 
and  books  of  biography  reviewed  lately  by  Professor  Bledsoe. 
of  the  Baltimore  Southern  Review. 

This  suspicion  of  Mr.  Jefferson  and  jealousy  of  the  South 
were  both  unfounded.  In  the  first  place,  they  forgot  that  he 
was  among  the  first  emancipationists  of  the  country ;  that  when 
Virginia  ceded  her  Northwest  Territory  to  the  Union,  he  incor 
porated  in  the  deed  of  cession  the  inviolable  condition  that  in 
voluntary  slavery,  except  for  crime,  should  not  be  permitted  in 


38  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

the  ceded  territory.  And  in  the  second  place,  they  ought  to 
have  known  that  all  the  settlers  from  immigration,  or  from 
their  own  hive  of  white  and  free  population,  would  have  more 
political  influence  than  any  number  of  slaves  carried  to  the 
new  lands  could  possibly  have. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  fully  justified  in  the  measure,  as  national 
necessities  have  since  developed.  There  is  nothing  in  the  Con 
stitution  which  forbids  the  act,  and  everything  in  the  impor 
tance  of  the  territory  to  demand  the  acquisition.  New  States 
might  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  and  it  was  absurd  to  deny 
that  the  United  States  might  acquire  territory  by  arms  or  by 
purchase,  as  well  as  any  other  external  sovereignty  on  earth. 
France  would  never  have  sold  it  but  for  the  fear  that  it  would 
be  conquered  by  Great  Britain,  as  Canada  had  been,  by  a  supe 
rior  naval  force  and  power  of  transporting  troops  across  the 
ocean  ;  and  the  apprehensions  of  France  might  well  be  those  of 
the  United  States  in  a  greater  degree.  A  European  power 
already  held  it  in  perfect  obstruction  to  the  march  of  empire 
westward,  and  another  was  seeking  to  snatch  it  from  a  weaker 
power  who  could  not  hold  it,  and  Louisiana  added  to  Canada 
would  have  placed  a  cincture  by  land  and  sea  around  the 
boundaries  of  the  United  States,  which  would,  in  the  naval 
grasp  of  Great  Britain,  have  been  a  constrictor  about  our  very 
life  as  a  nation.  We  could  not  have  existed,  much  less  have 
expanded,  in  such  boundaries.  The  separate  States  could  not 
acquire  the  territory,  and,  if  the  United  States  could  not,  the 
progress  of  popular  liberty  would  have  been  constrained  and 
stopped,  if  not  destroyed,  within  our  infant  dominions. 

The  very  water-shed  of  the  continent  argued  the  necessity  of 
the  case,  and  flowed  to  the  conclusion  of  the  legitimacy  as  well 
as  the  expediency  of  the  purchase.  Every  river  on  the  conti 
nent,  except  the  New  River,  the  Monongahela.  and  the  Shenan- 
doah, — all  three  in  Virginia, — flows  from  north  to  south.  The 
Mississippi,  commencing  near  the  Lake  of  the  Wodds  and 
emptying  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  is  the  great  artery  of  the 
continent.  In  the  hands  of  Great  Britain,  sovereign  of 
Canada,  it  would  have  been  to  that  power,  in  case  of  war,  what 


THE  SECOND  DECADE.  39 

it  was  to  the  Northern  States  in  the  late  war  with  the  Confed 
eracy,  an  anaconda,  and  the  United  States  would  have  been 
what  the  Confederacy  was,  a  Laocoon  ! 

Mr.  Jefferson  would  have  proved  himself  to  be  without  fore 
sight  or  patriotism  not  to  have  made  the  purchase.  The  tide 
of  immigration  was  setting  in,  and  every  inch  of  fertile  soil  was 
needed  to  the  Pacific  and  to  the  limits  of  the  territory  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  to  form  the  requisite  asylum  for  the 
oppressed  of  the  Old  World  escaping  to  the  New.  There  was 
no  limit  to  the  treaty-making  power,  but  the  discussion  arose 
upon  the  question  of  the  power  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
to  make  the  appropriation.  And  there  was  a  problem  hi  this 
which  the  war  of  1812  was  necessary  to  solve. 

Party  spirit  never  raged  more  rabid  than  during  the  presi 
dential  terms  of  the  elder  Adams  and  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  The 
feuds  became  more  complicated  during  the  latter  term,  owing 
to  the  course  of  Aaron  Burr  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 
Whilst  Yice-President  during  Mr.  Jefferson's  first  term,  he  was 
a  candidate  for  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  was  defeated  by  the  partisans  of  Mr.  Hamilton,  though 
they  had  done  their  utmost  to  elect  him  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  over  Mr. 
Jefferson,  against  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the  people 
at  the  polls.  He  was  good  enough  for  the  Presidency  whilst 
used  as  a  treacherous  tool  with  which  to  defeat  Democracy, 
but  then  he  was  thrown  aside  by  the  Federalists  and  denounced 
as  unworthy  of  trust  in  the  office  of  governor  of  a  State. 

The  history  of  Mr.  Burr  is  still  involved  in  great  mystery, 
and  will  never  now  be  fully  cleared  of  all  cloud  of  doubt.  He 
was  an  eminently  able  and  bad  man,  brave  beyond  all  question, 
but  ambitious  in  the  extreme,  and  unscrupulous  in  the  means 
by  which  he  aimed  to  climb  the  ladder  of  preferment.  Yet  he 
had  some  high  qualities,  and,  doubtless,  in  some  material  re 
spects  was  woefully  wronged.  Hamilton  was  incomparably 
his  superior  in  character  and  intellect ;  but  we  are  not  convinced 
that  Mr.  Hamilton  was  not  the  wrong-doer  to  Burr,  and  to  him 
self  too,  in  the  affair  of  their  fatal  and  lamentable  duel. 


40  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

There  were  two  very  remarkable  traits  in  Mr.  Burr :  first,  he 
was  never  known  to  vituperate  any  rival  or  opponent  in  public, 
either  by  word  spoken  or  written  ;  and  second,  he  made  it  a 
rule  never  to  resort  to  the  public  prints  to  defend  his  reputa 
tion  against  any  assault,  whether  true  or  false.  It  was  not  so 
with  General  Hamilton.  He  despised  Burr,  and  openly  de 
nounced  him  as  a  Catiline.  Burr  actually  declined  to  take 
any  notice  of  the  assault.  The  assault  was  not  slight,  as 
according  to  the  general  belief,  but  severe,  pointed,  and  personal. 
Burr's  friends  demanded  that  he  should  notice  it,  coming,  as  it 
did,  from  authority  so  high  as  that  of  Hamilton.  He  then 
acquiesced  in  his  friends'  demand  so  far  only  as  to  call  for 
explanations.  He  received  from  Mr.  Hamilton  the  explanation 
that  the  name  of  Catiline  was  applied  to  him  in  no  other  but  a 
political  sense,  describing  the  consequences  and  not  the  motives 
or  intentions  of  his  (Burr's)  political  opinions,  and  not  imputing 
to  him  any  personal,  bad,  vicious,  or  unpatriotic  motives.  This 
explanation  Burr  readily  accepted  as  satisfactory,  and  Mr. 
Hamilton  voluntarily  pledged  abstinence  from  all  allusion  to 
Mr.  Burr  again  in  any  offensive  and  public  way. 

In  a  very  short  time  afterwards,  Mr.  Hamilton  alluded  to 
him  again  in  the  same  manner,  and  called  him  the  same  offen 
sive  name. 

Mr.  Burr's  friends  then  demanded  that  he  should  challenge 
him.  He  did  so;  Hamilton  accepted  without  offering  other 
explanation,  and,  seemingly  conscious  of  wrong,  reserved  his 
fire,  exposed  his  own  life,  and  would  not  endanger  Burr's. 

Of  his  intention  not  to  aim  at  Burr's  life,  the  latter  was,  of 
course,  not  informed,  and  Burr  being  the  challenger,  it  was 
necessarily  known  that  he  would  fire  at  Mr.  Hamilton.  By 
the  laws  of  honor  constraining  gentlemen  at  that  day,  he  was 
bound  to  challenge  Hamilton,  and  was  to  be  expected  to  shoot 
his  adversary  if  he  could,  and  was  not  bound  to  wait,  in  de 
livering  his  fire,  until  he  could  see  whether  his  adversary  was 
going  to  shoot  at  him  or  not.  He  had  not  time,  and  the  risk 
was  too  great. 

They  both  had  been  distinguished  officers  in  the  army,  were 


THE  SECOND   DECADE.  41 

governed  by  its  then  code  of  responsibility  to  fight,  and  neither, 
it  was  thought,  meant  any  child's  play  when  they  did  resort  to 
arms  and  fought. 

On  Burr's  trial,  no  overt  act  of  treason  was  proved,  and  it 
is  far  from  being  established  that  he  had  any  intention  of 
treason  to  the  United  States.  It  was  fully  declared,  in  his  last 
moments,  that  his  design  was  to  enter  Mexico  with  a  consider 
able  force  of  volunteers,  and  to  establish  a  splendid  empire 
there.  And  can  any  friend  of  civilization  say  that  he  would 
have  done  harm  to  humanity? 

Certain  it  is  that  Mr.  Jefferson  was  his  avowed  and  active 
enemy,  and  all  the  power  of  the  executive  of  the  United  States 
was  brought  to  aid  in  the  attempt  to  criminate  him.  He  bore 
his  trial  with  great  coolness  and  fortitude,  and  was  his  own 
best  counsel,  though  he  had  a  John  Wickhara  to  defend  him. 
He  was  never  a  desperate  man  ;  but  calm,  clear-headed,  indif 
ferent  to  all  the  decrees  of  fate.  He  was  false  to  woman 
and  to  the  Democratic  party,  wholly  unscrupulous  in  his  means 
and  Lucifer-like  in  his  designs,  regardless  of  the  judgment  of 
mankind,  and  defiant  of  public  opinion,  put  himself  on  a  venture 
without  a  conscientious  compunction,  and  was  a  horrible  in 
fidel  ;  but  the  killing  of  Alexander  Hamilton  was  according  to 
the  code  of  human  honor  in  his  day;  and  the  worst  that  can  be 
said  of  him  is,  that  it  was  the  least  of  his  offenses  against  the 
laws  of  God. 

He  was  not  run  a  second  time  for  the  Presidency ;  Clinton's 
was  substituted  for  his  name,  and  Burr  was  no  longer  an  actor 
in  American  affairs. 

The  Territory  of  Louisiana,  beyond  the  Mississippi  and  to  the 
Pacific,  was  explored  by  the  expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clarke, 
in  the  year  1804,  and  the  way  was  thus  pioneered  for  emigrants. 

And  this  brings  us  to  another  historic  event  of  this  decade, 
from  1800  to  1S10,  which  met  John  Tyler  at  home,  just  as 
William  and  Mary  gave  him  his  diploma  to  begin  active  life, 
in  his  seventeenth  or  eighteenth  year  of  age, — the  during  out 
rage  of  the  British  frigate  the  Leopard,  which  pounced  upon 
an  American  frigate,  the  Chesapeake,  at  the  Capes  of  Vir- 


42  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

ginia,  when  unprepared  for  action.  This  condition  of  the 
Chesapeake  was  undoubtedly  designed  by  the  administration, 
even  at  the  sacrifice  of  as  noble,  brave,  and  competent  a  cap 
tain  as  ever  was  "  monarch  of  the  peopled  deck"  of  a  man-of- 
war.  Mr.  Jefferson's  policy  was  to  rouse  the  nation  to  a 
declaration  of  war,  and  James  Barren  of  Hampton,  as  gallant 
a  son  of  as  gallant  a  sire,  and  brother  of  as  brave  a  brother,  as 
ever  honored  Virginia  by  his  birthright,  was  cruelly  and  treach 
erously  made  the  victim  of  that  Moloch  policy. 

The  frigate  Chesapeake  was  at  anchor  in  the  harbor  of  Nor 
folk,  undergoing  repairs,  and  her  officers  fitting  her  for  sea; 
storekeepers,  ship -carpenters,  riggers,  ordnance  officers,  and 
shore  commanders  were  at  work  on  her,  and  superintending 
her  preparations.  Her  crew  was  just  enlisted,  unorganized, 
strangers,  undrilled,  and  consisted  largely  of  foreigners.  Know 
ing  this,  and  bent  on  asserting  the  right  of  search  for  British 
seamen,  under  the  despotic  maxim  of  Great  Britain,  "  once  a 
citizen  always  a  citizen,"  the  Leopard  was  lying  off  and  on, 
just  outside  the  Capes  of  Virginia,  awaiting  the  sailing  of  the 
Chesapeake,  to  board  her,  insult  her  flag,  and  seize  such  of  her 
crew  as  might  be  claimed  as  British  subjects.  The  Leopard's 
commander  had  insolently  warned  the  Chesapeake  that  such 
was  her  domineering  threat. 

This  was  notorious  to  all  Norfolk,  and  was  communicated 
officially  by  Captain  Barren  to  the  Navy  Department;  but  he 
was  not  allowed  to  prepare  the  ship  he  was  to  command.  Her 
crew  and  munitions  and  stores  were  hurried  on  board,  and  with 
cordage  and  spars  lumbering  her  deck,  and  guns  not  mounted, 
and  useless  for  action,  he  was  ordered  to  take  command  and 
put  out  to  sea  immediately,  in  the  then  condition  of  the  ship. 
She  had  not  cleared  the  marine  league  before  the  Leopard 
made  good  her  threat,  bore  down  upon  her,  demanded  the 
delivery  of  a  part  of  her  crew,  and  the  right  of  search.  All 
that  Barron  could  do  was  to  refuse  the  demand,  take  the  de 
structive  broadside  of  the  Leopard,  return  her  shot,  and  sur 
render  the  Chesapeake  as  a  prize  of  war.  That  was  what  the 
administration  wished  him  to  do,  to  rouse  the  national  indigna- 


THE  SECOND  DECADE  43 

tion  ;  but  they  had  not  so  ordered  or  informed  him,  and  im 
mediately  tried  him  for  cowardice  and  neglect  of  duty,  and 
suspended  him  from  command.  He  was  banished  to  Europe 
by  his  poverty,  and  this  brought  on  the  duel  with  Decatur, 
instigated  by  others  whom  Barron  could  never  insult  enough 
afterwards  to  make  them  fight.  It  was  a  sad  thing  that  the 
gallant  Decatur  should  have  fallen  in  a  combat  which  he  was 
made  to  seek  with  the  friend  of  his  father,  who  led  him,  a  dissi 
pated  youth  of  Philadelphia,  to  the  quarter-deck  of  Barren's 
ship,  and  committed  him  to  his  care  and  training.  Barron  had 
treated  him  like  a  father,  and  taught  him  all  he  knew  of  sea 
manship  ;  and  yet  he  was  set  up  by  the  enemies  of  both  to 
champion  their  diabolical  design,  to  put  out  of  the  way  of  their 
promotion  the  senior  officer  of  the  navy. 

Never,  until  Barron  and  Decatur  were  lying  side  by  side  on 
the  gory  sod  of  Bladensburg,  did  each,  shot  by  the  other,  know 
the  wanton  wickedness  of  the  fomenters  of  their  duel.  It  was 
not  until  Decatur  asked,  "Now,  Barron,  tell  me  why  you  did  not 
come  home  during  the  war,"  and  Barron  replied,  "Ah,  Decatur, 
why  did  you  not  ask  me  that  before  ?"  and  told  him  the  reason, 
that  he  knew  how  he  had  wronged  his  father's  friend,  and  his 
own  patron  and  benefactor.  Then  he  heaved  a  broken  sigh, 
dropped  a  tear,  grasped  Barren's  hand,  and  bade  him  farewell, 
— "  God  bless  you"— for  all  of  this  life. 

This  episode  is  due  to  friends  of  old  Elizabeth  City,  to  that 
game-cock  town  of  Hampton,  which  was  never  known  to  breed 
a  coward,  and  to  James  Barron,  who  was  ever  the  friend  of 
John  Tyler. 

Great  Britain  and  France  were  struggling  for  the  destruction 
of  each  other,  and  for  the  mastery  of  the  world,  and  both  had 
grossly  violated  the  neutral  rights  of  the  United  States  in 
almost  every  form  of  irritating  insult  and  injury.  The  despotic 
maxim  of  "  Once  a  citizen,  always  a  citizen,"  fixing  allegiance 
forever  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  place  of  birth,  and  the  doc 
trine  of  "  the  right  of  search,"  dominating  all  the  high  seas, 
asserting  that  a  British-born  subject,  though  he  had  left  his 
birthright,  had  quitted  the  limits  of  his  parent  country,  had 


44  SEVEN  DEC AD  ES   OF  THE    UNION. 

renounced  his  allegiance  and  quit  claim  to  British  protection, 
and  had  been  domiciled  and  naturalized  in  another  land ; 
though  he  had  taken  the  wings  of  the  morning  and  flown  to 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  yet  but  drew  a  lengthening 
chain,  and  might  be  seized  wherever  found,  and  be  impressed 
into  the  British  service  ;  and  the  "  right  to  hail  and  heave  to"  a 
friendly  or  neutral  flag  and  search  all  ships  on  the  high  seas,  to 
find  British  subjects,  drove  the  United  States  to  the  necessity 
of  asserting  the  rights,  of  neutrality,  that  free  ships  made  five 
goods,  and  the  rights  of  expatriation  and  of  naturalization. 

The  United  States  first  asserted  to  the  world  the  true  policy 
of  peace,  and  that  true  allegiance  was  not  a  bondage  ;  that  the 
subjects  of  any  sovereign  might  elect  the  place  of  their  alle 
giance  outside  of  the  limits  of  the  nation  of  their  birth  ;  that  the 
high  seas  were  free  to  the  trade  of  every  lawful  power,  and 
that  every  neutral  flag  was  sacred,  and  intact  from  search. 

After  searching  our  merchant  vessels,  and  filling  the  Dart 
mouth  dungeons  with  sailors  seized  on  board  of  our  ships  on 
the  high  seas,  Great  Britain  sent  her  man-of-war  the  Leopard 
to  the  very  pillars  of  Hercules  at  the  Capes  of  Virginia,  and 
at  the  front  door  of  our  Atlantic  coast  slapped  the  sovereignty 
of  the  United  States  in  the  face  by  capturing  the  frigate  Chesa 
peake,  in  a  helpless  state,  unprepared  for  action,  and  taking  from 
her  such  of  her  crew  as  were  arbitrarily  claimed  to  be  British- 
born  subjects. 

It  was  in  vain  that  the  United  States  urged  their  independ 
ence,  and  that  all  their  population  born  before  1781  were  British- 
born  subjects,  and  might,  under  the  same  pretext,  be  searched 
for  and  seized,  and  impressed  to  fight  against  their  own  coun 
try,  to  the  destruction  of  the  freedom  of  our  flag.  This  very 
argument  was  irritating  to  the  national  pride  of  Great  Britain, 
and  aggravated  her  soreness  at  our  independence,  and  her  jeal 
ousy  of  our  rapidly-growing  merchant  and  naval  marine.  The 
action  of  the  State  of  Virginia  against  this  insolent  aggression 
was  grand  and  glorious.  The  legislature  passed  a  resolution 
couched  in  these  burning  words : 

"At  a  moment  when  the  rights  of  our  country  have  been 


THE  SECOND   DECADE.  45 

assailed  by  the  encroachments  of  foreign  nations,  whose  con 
duct  towards  the  United  States  has  been  regulated  by  no  law 
of  nations  nor  by  any  principle  of  justice  ;  at  a  moment  when 
our  commerce  is  menaced  by  the  iniquitous  edicts  of  Great 
Britain  and  France,  our  flag  insulted,  the  great  highway  of 
uations,  which  Nature  and  Nature's  God  have  allotted  for  the 
use  of  all  countries,  has  been  actually  turnpiked  by  the  tolls 
and  tribute  of  the  British  government  for  the  benefit  of  the 
British  exchequer ;  at  a  moment  when  it  becomes  every  Ameri 
can  to  rally  around  the  measures  of  his  government,  to  vindi 
cate  the  undoubted  rights  of  his  beloved  country,  and  to  declare 
for  his  country  or  against  his  country  ; 

"Besolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  prepare  an 
address  to  the  Congress  and  President  of  the  United  States, 
pledging  every  nerve  and  every  exertion  of  .this  legislature  to 
support  the  rights  of  the  United  States,  to  endure  every  priva 
tion  and  pain,  and  to  perish  upon  the  ruins  of  our  country 
rather  than  abandon  its  rights,  its  honor,  and  its  independence." 

The  committee  appointed  were  Pope,  Semple,  Baker,  Robert 
son  of  Amelia,  W.  Brokenborough,  Preston,  E.  Watts,  Wirt, 
Archer,  Murdaugh,  Graham,  Peyton,  and  Strother. 

President  Tyler's  father  accepted  the  governorship  of  Vir 
ginia  on  the  llth  of  December,  and  this  resolution  was  passed 
by  the  legislature  on  December  13,  1808.  Soon  after  this  the 
committee  made  their  report  on  the  affair  of  the  Leopard  and 
the  Chesapeake,  and  their  reported  resolutions  were  adopted 
unanimously : 

"  That  it  is  better  for  us  to  cease  to  exist  as  a  nation  than  to 
exist  under  dishonor  and  violated  rights. 

"  That  the  aggressions  of  Great  Britain  and  France  have  in 
fringed  our  honor ;  have  violated  our  rights ;  have  usurped 
upon  our  sovereignty  as  an  independent  nation. 

"  That  we  will  stand  by  the  government  of  our  country,  and 
that  we  will  support  them  with  the  last  cent  of  our  treasure  and 
the  last  drop  of  our  blood,  in  every  measure,  either  of  defense 
or  offense,  which  they  may  deem  expedient  to  vindicate  our  in 
jured  honor  and  our  violated  rights." 


46  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UXION. 

These  were  finally  adopted  January  6,  1809 ;  and  let  those 
of  the  present  times  who  deny  that  national  honor  involves  per 
sonal  honor,  and  those  who  affect  to  deem  him  a  mad  martyr 
who  devotes  himself  and  all  that  he  is  and  all  that  he  has  to 
patriotic  sacrifice,  read  these  resolutions,  and  drink  in  an  inspi 
ration  which  will  elevate  them  to  a  nobler  nature  above  the 
sordid  selfishness  which  would  price  public  honor  and  liberty 
by  the  calculations  of  a  false  and  fatal  expediency,  and  learn 
that  where  honor  and  freedom  are  seriously  assailed,  noble  men 
and  patriots  count  not  the  costs  of  contest. 

The  measure  chiefly  resorted  to  by  Mr.  Jefferson  was  the 
Non-Importation  act;  he  ordered  British  war-vessels  from  our 
harbors,  and  Congress  passed  an  embargo  act  forbidding  the 
departure  of  vessels  from  American  harbors.  But  these  meas 
ures  were  worse  than  futile,  for  they  only  inflamed  the  com 
mercial  sections  of  the  country,  and  formed  a  pretext  for  the 
treasonable  resistance  which  culminated  in  the  Hartford  Con 
vention. 

The  purchase  of  Louisiana,  the  admission  of  Ohio  into  the 
Union,  the  increase  of  the  population  to  seven  millions,  and  the 
flood  of  immigration,  showed  that  the  country  was  multiplying 
and  magnifying  into  large  proportions ;  and  when,  in  1807, 
Fulton  applied  steam  to  n  ivigation,  that  mighty  motor  gave 
the  first  physical  impulse  to  causes  which  have  magnified  and 
multiplied  the  United  States  into  mammoth  dimensions. 

The  mechanic  began  his  great  work  of  conquering  time  and 
space  for  settlement  of  virgin  lauds  by  one  of  the  most  irresist 
ible  powers  of  nature,  and  the  age  began  to  be  "a  fast  age," 
running  by  the  old  mile-stones  of  the  past  too  speedily  to  read 
the  way-marks  and  figures  inscribed  on  tin  m,  from  causes  grow 
ing  out  of  the  wars  of  Napoleon.  Up  to  1810  he  had  turned 
Europe  topsy-turvy,  not  so  much  by  arms  as  by  the  arts  and 
physical  sciences  of  the  Polytechnics,  which  his  armies  and  con 
quests  demanded  and  developed.  Chemistry,  natural  philosophy, 
mechanics,  applied  science,  mathematics,  and  civil  engineering 
advanced  rapidly  and  rose  highest  in  the  studies  of  men ;  and 


THE  SECOND  DECADE.  47 

they  were  all  called  for  in  turn  by  the  new  continent  inviting 
the  Old  World  to  its  rivers  and  forests,  and  craving  for  its 
crooked  ways  to  be  made  straight  and  its  rough  places  to  be 
made  smooth.  Mountains  had  to  be  leveled,  and  valleys  to  be 
raised. 

The  wars  of  Europe,  caused  by  Napoleon,  from  1800  to  1815, 
had  an  immense  influence  upon  immigration  and  settlement  in 
the  United  States.  And  Mr.  Jefferson,  too,  was  a  philosopher 
and  a  man  of  science.  Not  only  was  he  the  chief  builder  of 
the  University  of  Virginia,  but  he  ought  to  have  had  it  also 
inscribed  upon  his  tomb  that  he  brought  Hassler  to  the  United 
States  to  lay  the  base-line  of  our  surveys  and  triangulations. 
Hassler  was  a  master  of  science,  and  should  not  be  forgotten  in 
our  history. 

Mr.  Jefferson  brought  him  to  this  country,  and  he  repaid  him 
by  his  weights  and  measures  and  his  coast  survey.  He  was  a 
wonderful  study  in  himself.  An  old  man  when  we  first  knew 
him,  with  a  head  which  phrenology  would  have  instanced  as  a 
marked  one  and  a  sculptor  would  have  chiseled  as  a  model ; 
an  aquiline  nose,  thin  and  intellectual,  and  lips  and  chin  which 
gave  an  expression  of  sweet  manliness ;  a  form  erect  and  en 
ergetic  ;  of  an  extreme  nervousness,  which  made  him  unique 
and  often  grotesque ;  with  a  deep-set  eye,  sparkling,  bright, 
and  penetrating  by  a  glance, — his  appearance  was  attractively 
"  game ;"  and  it  did  not  falsify  his  heart ;  he  was  afraid  of 
nothing ;  no  intellectual  puzzle,  no  physical  obstruction  or  ob 
stacle,  no  fear  of  man,  could  make  him  hesitate  in  his  pursuit 
and  following  straight  after  the  truth. 

We  can  never  forget  a  scene  between  him  and  Mr.  Wood- 
bury,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  during  Mr.  Yan  Buren's 
administration.  Whilst  the  most  corrupt  extravagance  was 
indulged  in  for  the  patronage  of  partisans,  the  administration 
was  urgent  in  recommendations  of  economy  and  of  reduction 
of  appropriations  to  the  most  important  branches  of  the  public 
service.  The  lighthouses,  for  example,  it  was  proposed  should 
be  reduced  in  expenditure.  This  was  met  by  the  exclamation 
of  the  Opposition,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  behalf 


48  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

of  the  storm-distressed  mariner,  that  it  would  be  "  putting  out 
the  eyes  of  the  ocean  1"  And  the  Coast  Survey  it  was  pro 
posed  should  be  reduced.  The  salary  of  Mr.  Hassler  was  eight 
thousand  dollars,  and  that  of  his  son  three  thousand  dollars, 
per  annum,  and  this  was  thought  too  much.  The  old  gentle 
man  kept,  at  the  expense  of  government,  a  singular  sort  of 
"  Shandnidan"  vehicle,  curiously  slung  on  springs  in  a  way 
not  allowing  of  the  least  jar.  This  was  though  to  be  un 
necessary,  and  not  in  keeping  with  allowances  to  other  branches 
of  service  of  higher  grade.  Mr.  Woodbury  sent  for  him  to 
show  cause  why  he  should  be  allowed  to  keep  his  coach  and 
pair  at  public  expense.  He  replied,  with  eagerness,  "  Oh,  it  is 
necessary  for  my  babies.'1'1 

11  Your  BABIES,  Mr.  Hassler  ? — I  did  not  know  that  you  had 
any  at  your  time  of  life !" 

"  Yes ;  as  I  get  older  they  increase  rapidly  and  become  more 
and  more  tender  and  delicate,  and  require  a  carriage." 

"  But,  Mr.  Hassler,  if  that  be  so,  the  government  must  not 
pay  for  riding  out  your  babies." 

"  Ah,  it  must  not,  say  you,  when  they  are  the  government's 
babies  too?" 

For  the  first  time  the  secretary  began  to  see  that  Hassler 
was  speaking  of  his  fine  instruments,  his  theodolites,  etc.,  used 
on  the  Coast  Survey. 

"  Your  instruments,  you  mean.  But  you  need  not  ride  them 
out  here ;  and  when  you  go  to  the  field  of  your  work  you  can 
transport  them  by  the  railroad-cars  better  than  in  a  carriage." 

"  No !  no  !  That  jarring  concussion  makes  them  nervous, 
puts  them  out  of  order,  and  unfits  them  for  exact  use.  They 
shall  not  be  vexed  by  the  railroad-cars  !" 

"Well,  then,  your  salary,  Mr.  Hassler,  and  that  of  your  son, 
— you  and  he  in  one  family  receive  eleven  thousand  dollars, 
whilst  I,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  get  but  six  thousand 
dollars  for  superintending  the  whole  department!" 

"  Well,  tarn  it,  tat  is  right !  A  President  of  de  United  States 
can  make  a  Secretary  of  de  Treasury,  but  it  took  an  Almighty 
God  to  make  a  Hassler !" 


THE  SECOND   DECADE.  49 

He  was  left  undisturbed. 

Some  ignorant  persons  in  New  Jersey  once  had  him  im 
prisoned  for  trespassing  on  the  lands,  by  cutting  trees,  etc.,  in 
the  way  of  his  triangulations,  and  he  would  make  no  conces 
sions  to  the  prosecution.  The  government  had  to  relieve  him. 
At  one  time  an  effort  was  made  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  to  curtail  and  change  his  elementary  plan  of  survey, 
as  too  tedious  and  expensive.  The  substitute  proposed  was 
what  is  called  the  chronometric  plan.  It  was  our  pleasure 
to  be  on  the  committee,  and,  siding  with  the  old  hero  of  science, 
to  enjoy  his  collisions  with  some  of  the  members  who  advo 
cated  the  substitute.  One  and  another  annoyed  him  by  repe 
tition  of  the  questions,  "  What  was  his  system  ?  When  would 
it  be  completed?  When  would  expenditures  cease?  Would 
it  ever  be  completed  ?" 

This  would  be  answered  by  reference  to  his  correspondence 
with  Mr.  Jefferson,  by  exposing  what  absurd  expenditures 
were  made  when  the  work  at  one  time  was  turned  over  to  the 
Navy  Department,  by  illustrating  the  necessity  of  a  base-line 
and  actual  triangulation,  and  by  referring  to  all  his  reports 
and  manuscripts.  He  was  told  in  reply  that  his  explanations 
were  unsatisfactory,  and  a  brief  expose  of  the  distinctive  dif 
ference  between  his  plan  and  the  chronometric  was  required. 
Then  he  would  turn  again  to  two  large  baskets  full  of  papers, 
showing  his  plan  in  general  and  irr  detail.  Worried  again  and 
again  by  these  examinations,  at  last  he  exclaimed,  indignantly, 
"  I  am  not  paid  to  teach  members  of  Congress  mathematics  ! — tat 
is  an  impossible  task  !  And  this  committee  would  sit  too  long 
if  it  sits  so  long  as  it  would  take  to  complete  tat  task." 

He  was  asked  no  more  such  questions,  and  the  Coast  Survey 
on  Hassler's  base  was  happily  continued. 

Not  only  the  acquisition  of  territory,  the  immigration  from 
Europe  to  settle  it,  Napoleon's  wars  and  science,  the  genius  of 
Hassler,  and  the  application  of  steam,  but  our  own  preparations 
for  war  with  either  England  or  France  or  with  both,  gave  great 
prominence  and  progress  to  the  "  physical  and  material"  in  the 
United  States. 

4 


50  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

The  war  was  not  allowed  to  break  out  during  Mr.  Jefferson's 
administration.  Pretexts  for  it  were  afforded,  and  preparations 
for  it  were  made,  but  its  declaration  was  withheld,  and  hostilities 
were  actually  restrained. 

At  the  time  of  these  events,  John  Tyler,  Jr.,  had  just  been 
graduated,  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  age,  at  William  and 
Mary,  in  the  year  180T.  His  seventeenth  birthday  was  on  the 
29th  day  of  March,  1807,  and  he  took  his  degrees,  it  is  said, 
in  that  year,  the  commencement  occurring  after  his  birthday. 
He  commenced  study  of  the  law  at  once,  first  in  the  office  of 
his  father,  and  afterwards  with  the  illustrious  Edmund  Ran 
dolph,  the  Attorney-General  of  the  Washington  administration, 
the  chief  draughtsman  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  and  statesmen  of  the  convention 
which  formed  it,  Hamilton,  Madison,  and  Pinckney  not  excepted, 
and  the  cabinet  officer  whose  correspondence  with  Governor 
Mifflin,  of  Pennsylvania,  in  '94,  coupled  with  Hamilton's  instruc 
tions  to  General  Harry  Lee,  forms  the  true  code  of  constitu 
tional  law  governing  cases  of  insurrection  and  rebellion.  He 
obtained  his  license  to  practice  his  profession  in  the  twentieth 
year  of  his  age,  having  obtained  a  certificate  without  inquiry  as 
to  his  age,  and  was  at  once  engaged  in  a  large  and  lucrative 
practice. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  administration  was  to  terminate  in  March, 
1809,  and  on  the  6th  of  February  of  that  year  the  Legislature 
of  Virginia  passed  their  valedictory  address  to  him,  gratefully 
acknowledging  the  purity  of  his  republican  administration, 
thanking  him  for  internal  taxes  abolished,  for  superfluous  officers 
disbanded,  for  renouncing  the  monarchic  maxim  that  "a  national 
debt  is  a  national  blessing,"  for  extinguishing  the  right  of  the 
Indians  to  one  hundred  millions  of  national  domain,  for  the 
acquisition  of  Louisiana  without  guilt  or  calamity  of  conquest, 
for  the  preservation  of  peace  amidst  great  and  pressing  difficul 
ties,  for  cultivating  and  securing  the  good  will  of  the  aborigines 
and  extending  civilization  to  them,  for  the  lesson  taught  to  the 
Barbary  powers,  and  for  the  preservation  of  the  liberty  of  speech 


THE  SECOND  DECADE.  51 

and  of  the  press  inviolate,  without  which  genius  and  science 
are  given  to  man  in  vain. 

We  cite  this  notation  of  the  virtues  and  benefits  of  Mr.  Jef 
ferson's  administration  in  order  to  compare  what  he  did  with 
what  may  proudly  be  claimed  for  Mr.  Tyler's  administration 
afterwards. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE    THIRD    DECADE,    FROM    181O    TO   182O. 

Tecumseh  and  Tippecanoe — War  with  Great  Britain ;  how  the  declaration  of  it 
was  got  at,  and  Mr.  Tyler's  part  in  the  War — The  Attempt  upon  Canada — 
General  Scott,  another  War-made  Man — The  Navy  on  the  Ocean  and  the 
Lakes — Blue-Lights — Cockburn  at  Hampton;  General  Taylor,  another  War- 
made  Man — General  Jackson — The  Course  of  Connecticut  and  Massachu 
setts  during  the  War — The  Hartford  Convention  called  by  Massachusetts  in 
the  midst  of  the  War — Peace  saved  the  United  States — After  Peace,  Im 
posts  for  Protection — National  Bank  in  1817 — The  Colonization  Society  and 
the  Republic  of  Liberia — The  First  Term  of  Mr.  Monroe — His  Conciliation 
of  Federalism— His  Cabinet— J.  Q.  Adams— W.  II.  Crawford— John  C.  Cal- 
houn — Internal  Improvements — The  Erie  Canal  by  New  York — The  Seminole 
War — St.  Mark's — Pensacola  and  Fort  Barrancas — Cession  of  Florida — Ad 
mission  of  Missouri — Ocean  Steam  Navigation,  July  20,  1819. 

MR.  JEFFERSON  had  the  sagacity  or  the  timidity,  the  prudence 
or  the  selfishness,  to  turn  the  responsibility  and  the  burden  of 
the  war  with  Great  Britain  over  to  his  successor,  Mr.  Madison, 
whom  General  Jackson  pronounced  to  be  a  President  "  not  fit 
for  blood  and  carnage." 

So  it  was  that  nearly  five  years  elapsed  from  the  time  of  the 
outrage  by  the  Leopard  on  the  Chesapeake,  in  1807,  before  the 
Democracy  ventured  to  make  the  declaration  of  war.  Mr. 
Madison  paused  and  parleyed  for  over  ihree  years,  and  it  was 
not  without  the  most  strenuous  opposition  that  the  war  was 
declared  at  last.  Mr.  Tyler  often  jocularly  said  that  the  ques 
tion  was  got  at  rather  by  "spittoons11  than  by  "national  spirit," 
and  told  an  anecdote  showing  the  spirit  of  the  times  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States. 

Party  spirit  ran  rankling  to  the  most  violent  extremes.  Not 
only  was  personal  courtesy  forgotten  in  partisan  rudeness,  but 
measures  were  carried  o/  deflated  by  means  "fas  aut  nefas.n 
(5.2) 


THE   THIRD  DECADE.  53 

On  the  question  of  "war  or  no  war,"  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  was  kept  in  session  several  weeks,  day  and  night,  without 
recess  or  respite. 

So  determined  was  the  Opposition  that  the  Federal  leaders, 
with  an  organized  phalanx  of  debaters,  got  the  floor,  and  held  it 
by  preconcerted  signals,  until  the  patience  of  their  opponents  was 
exhausted.  The  physical  endurance  of  the  Sp.eaker  was  over 
come  ;  his  sleep  was  not  that  of  "  tired  Nature's  sweet  restorer," 
— it  was  not  "  balmy."  An  elderly  gentleman  from  New  Eng 
land,  with  rather  goggle-eyes,  took  the  text  of  peace,  and  spun  it 
out  exceeding  fine  and  broadly  disquisitive,  from  point  to  point, 
each  of  infinite  detail,  like  Captain  Dalgetty's  pious  tormentor, 
far  beyond  "  eighteenthly,"  and  never  towards  "  lastly,"  until 
Bellona,  or  some  one  else,  resorted  to  most  startling  means  of 
storming  the  tenure  of  the  floor  to  get  at  the  "  previous  ques 
tion."  The  Speaker  of  the  House  and  most  of  the  members, 
making  a  bare  quorum,  were  asleep,  and  there  was  nothing  to 
disturb  the  solemn  silence  but  the  Dominie-like  drawling  of  the 
member  on  the  floor, — didactic,  monotonous,  and  slow ;  the 
clerk's  head  bent  low  down  upon  the  journal ;  when  lo  !  sudden 
noises,  rattling,  dashing,  bounding  down  the  aisles,  awoke  and 
astonished  Speaker's  chair  and  clerk's  desk  ;  spittoons  were 
bounding  and  leaping  in  the  air,  and,  falling,  reverberating  their 
sounds  like  thunders  among  the  crags  of  the  Alps.  "Order! 
order !  order!"  was  the  vociferated  cry  ;  but,  in  the  midst  of  the 
slap-banging  confusion  of  the  no  longer  drowsy  night,  the  hum 
drum  debater  who  had  the  floor  took  his  seat  from  fright,  and  a 
belligerent  Democrat  snatched  the  pause  to  move  the  "previous 
question,"  which  was  seconded,  and  the  declaration ' of  war 
against  Great  Britain  was  thus  got  at,  and  carried  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  in 
June,  1812. 

Another  of  his  stories  about  the  times  of  this  Congress,  was 
an  odd  scene  between  the  gallant  Governor  Wright,  of  Mary 
land,  and  Mr.  Timothy  Pickering.  Mr.  Randolph — John  of 
Roanoke — had  been  riding  out,  and  came  to  the  door  of  the 
House,  whip  in  hand,  where  he  stopped  and  stood  with  a  group 


54  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

around  him,  listening  to  his  wizard  words,  when  Governor 
Wright  came  passing  in  with  a  pile  of  books  under  each  arm,  as 
many  as  he  could  carry,  and  preventing  him  from  using  either 
hand  for  salutation. 

"  What  does  this  mean,  Governor  Wright  ?"  said  Mr.  Ran 
dolph. 

"It  means— for  Timothy  Pickering,"  replied  Governor 
Wright, — "  I  will  convict  him  of  treason  1" 

Governor  Wright  was  one  of  the  warmest  for  the  war,  and 
Mr.  Pickering  was  accused  of  being  what  was  called  a  "  Blue- 
Light  Federalist," — taking  the  Anglican  side  of  the  question. 

"  But,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Randolph,  "  you  do  not  mean  to  attack 
Mr.  Pickering  without  a  notice  of  your  design  ?" 

"Do  you  think  etiquette  demands  that  of  me?"  asked  the 
governor,  for  he  was  the  soul  of  chivalry  and  honor.  And  Mr. 
Randolph,  who  opposed  the  war  with  Great  Britain,  said, — 

"  I  thought  you  were  always  for  a  declaration  of  war  before 
beginning  hostilities." 

"Well,  then,"  said  the  governor,  "  he  shall  have  the  notice 
at  once."  And,  stalking  down  the  aisle  with  his  full  armament 
of  books  under  each  arm,  he  went  to  the  seat  of  Mr.  Pickering, 
who  was  a  gentleman  of  dignified  mien  and  elegant  appearance. 
Being  unable  to  reach  out  a  hand,  the  governor  "  nudged"  him 
with  his  elbow. 

"  Look  here,"  said  he  ;  "  do  you  see  that  ?"  (pointing  with  the 
digit  of  the  right  hand  to  the  books  under  the  left  arm.) 

Mr.  Pickering  said,  "Yes,  sir." 

Then,  pointing  with  the  digit  of  the  left  hand  to  the  books 
under  the  right  arm,  he  repeated, — 

"  Do  you  see  that  ?" 

Mr.  Pickering,  still  wondering  what  was  meant,  again  said, — 

"Yes,  sir." 

And  the  governor  notified  him  :  "  With  these  I  mean  to  give 
you 1" 

Such  was  the  spirit  of  party,  and  such  were  the  manners  of 
men,  in  those  times  of  trial  in  the  second  war  of  the  United 
States  for  independence. 


THE  THIRD   DECADE.  55 

The  wrath  against  British  outrages  had  been  pent  up  for  ten 
years,  and  it  was  bursting  out  at  last,  and  the  flame  could  not 
be  repressed.  The  very  moderation  and  delay  of  Mr.  Jefferson 
and  Mr.  Madison  had  intensified  the  heat,  and  the  war  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  the  vitality  of  the  United  States  as  a 
nation.  Without  it  the  national  character  would  have  been  de 
based.  The  country  would  have  returned  to  a  state  of  pupilage 
worse  than  the  colonial.  Its  destinies  would  have  been  igno- 
miniously  subordinated  to  the  caprices  of  Great  Britain,  without 
the  care  or  the  interest  of  a  mother  country  to  protect  her  colonial 
proteges.  It  was  not  waged  promptly  enough,  with  too  little 
preparation,  after  the  hesitation  which  rather  cravenly  delayed 
its  declaration.  But,  once  begun,  it  was  fought  gloriously,  against 
immense  odds ;  and  its  results  were  most  beneficial  to  the  United 
States,  and  to  all  the  secondary  and  lesser  powers  of  the  globe. 

1st.  It  established  our  navy  and  laid  the  keels  of  our  mer 
chant  marine  on  a  basis  to  enfranchise  the  highway  of  the 
ocean  and  to  defend  and  guard  for  all  future  time  the  freedom 
of  the  seas. 

2d.  It  made  eventually  a  new  code  of  neutrality.  It  estab 
lished  the  rule  of  "  Free  ships,  free  goods,"  and  lessened  the 
little  less  than  piratical  barbarities  of  "  search"  and  "  impress 
ment." 

3d.  It  created  anew  a  national  spirit  of  independence,  mani 
fested  by  the  motto  of  "  Millions  for  defense,  and  not  a  cent  for 
tribute." 

4th.  It  forever  annihilated  the  detestable  maxim  of  tyranny, — 
"  Once  a  citizen,  always  a  citizen."  It  maintained  the  cause  of 
freedom  "once  begun,"  without  which  the  Revolution  of  1776 
would  have  been  in  vain, — the  principle  that  all  governments 
are  intended,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  only  legitimate  purpose  of 
political  power,  for  the  good  of  the  governed;  and  that  when 
ever  abuses  of  government  become  intolerable,  the  people  gov 
erned  may  emigrate  and  renounce  allegiance  to  tyrants ;  or 
the  people  or  provinces  governed  may  throw  off  the  yoke  of 
oppression  within  their  own  limits.  It  went  further  than  the 
Revolution  of  '76,  which  asserted  this  right  for  colonies  alone  : 


56  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

it  asserted  that  the  individual  citizen  might  at  will  migrate, 
renounce  allegiance,  and  choose  another  sovereignty  and  be 
naturalized,  as  if  born  its  liege  subject,  and  maintained  the 
right  of  States  to  judge  of  remedies.  By  its  other  motto  of 
"  Free  trade  and  sailors'  rights"  it  meant  nothing  else  than 
fealty  to  the  freedom  of  the  high  seas,  and  that  the  poor  British 
sailor,  escaped  from  a  press-gang,  might  be  made  a  new  citizen 
of  a  new  sovereignty,  and  be  naturalized,  or  born  again  from 
bondage,  by  a  new  birth  of  liberty,  and  might  enlist  to  fight 
even  the  flag  under  which  he  was  pressed  and  oppressed.  The 
United  States  hailed  all  peoples  with  the  grand  hail  of  freedom, 
and  called  to  them,  saying,  "  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth  for 
liberty,  come  unto  us,  and  we  will  make  you  free  !"  They 
offered  bounties  of  land,  the  richest  of  earth,  to  all  subjects  of 
all  nations  to  renounce  their  native  allegiance  and  assume  a  new 
and  voluntary  allegiance,  which,  in  turn,  might  at  will  be  re 
nounced.  It  triumphantly  asserted  the  individual  right  of  man 
to  choose  his  own  sovereign.  It  set  the  down-trodden  masses 
of  the  Old  World  free  to  leave  "  the  land  of  memory"  and  come 
to  "the  land  of  hope." 

5th.  It  gave  a  Christian  chapter  to  the  code  of  international 
law. 

The  second  year  after  Mr.  Tyler  qualified  in  his  profession, 
just  twenty-one  years  of  age  the  preceding  spring,  in  Decem 
ber,  1811,  he  took  his  seat  as  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Delegates  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Virginia. 
Inheriting  a  hatred  of  British  tyranny,  he  was  filled  with  the 
"  gaudia"  of  this  contest,  and  urged  and  supported  every  meas 
ure  of  the  administration  to  rouse  the  national  spirit,  to  provide 
for  the  contingency  of  the  war,  and  to  maintain  its  declaration. 
He  himself  raised  a  company  to  help  fight  its  battles.  At  the 
very  first  session  of  his  service,  his  sagacity,  eloquence,  and 
winning  address  gave  him  a  very  high  stand  as  a  leader  of  the 
legislature  for  five  successive  years  ;  and  in  the  session  of  1811- 
12  he  played  a  most  important  part,  which  ever  since  has  borne 
testimony  to  his  integrity  and  consistency  in  two  most  essen 
tial  particulars  of  his  public  life.  The  legislature  had  instructed 


THE   THIRD  DECADE.  57 

the  senators  of  the  State  in  Congress,  Messrs.  Giles  and  Brent, 
to  vote  against  the  charter  of  a  United  States  Bank.  The  sena 
tors  refused  to  obey  the  instructions  of  the  legislature.  Mr. 
Tyler  moved  a  resolution  of  censure  in  the  House,  claiming  the 
power  and  right  of  the  legislature,  as  representing  the  con 
stituency  of  senators  in  Congress,  to  instruct  them,  and  asserting 
it  to  be  the  duty  of  senators  to  obey  the  instructions.  He  took 
two  positions  then  from  which  he  never  departed  afterwards : 

1st.   The  unconstitutionally  of  a  national  bank. 

2d.  The  right  of  a  legislature  to  instruct  their  senators  in 
Congress,  and  the  duty  of  senators  to  obey  the  instructions  of 
the  legislature  of  their  State. 

The  vicissitudes  and  changes  of  all  life  are  strange  and 
strangely  contrasted ;  but  none  are  so  strange  and  so  much  in 
contrast  as  those  of  political  life. 

In  1811  the  attempt  was  made  to  charter  a  Bank  of  the 
United  States  by  Congress.  Mr.  Clay  voted  against  the 
power  as  unconstitutional. 

In  1812  Mr.  Benjamin  Watkins  Leigh  drew  the  resolutions 
of  instructions  to  the  senators  of  Virginia  in  Congress,  requir 
ing  their  obedience  to  them,  to  vote  against  the  charter  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  Mr.  Tyler  introduced  the  reso 
lution  in  1812  to  censure  Messrs.  Giles  and  Brent  for  their 
disobedience  to  Mr.  Leigh's  instructions. 

Afterwards,  in  1816,  Mr.  Clay  voted  for  the  charter  of  a 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  notwithstanding  his  vote  on  the 
same  subject  for  the  opposite  reasons  in  1811 ;  and  in  1836  Mr. 
Leigh  violated  his  own  resolution  of  1812  in  respect  to  instruc 
tions,  and  refused  to  obey  the  instructions  of  the  legislature  to 
expunge  a  part  of  the  journal  of  the  Senate. 

The  one,  Mr.  Clay,  contradicted  himself  within  four  years, 
in  respect  to  the  bank ;  and  the  other,  Mr.  Leigh,  contradicted 
himself  in  respect  to  the  right  of  instructing  senators  in  Con 
gress,  in  twenty-four  years;  whilst  Mr.  Tyler  remained  firm 
and  uniform  in  his  course  upon  both  questions  for  a  lifetime  ; 
and  yet,  afterwards,  no  two  men  of  either  party  were  so  zeal 
ous,  and  strenuous,  and  bitter,  in  1836  and  in  1841,  in  de- 


58  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

nouncing  Mr.  Tylep*  for  inconsistency  on  the  very  questions  of 
instructions,  of  obedience  to  instructions,  and  of  chartering  a 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  as  were  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky, 
and  Benjamin  Watkins  Leigh,  of  Virginia  !  And  the  sad  but 
ludicrous  absurdity  of  popular  credulity,  even  among  men  of 
respectable  information,  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  Messrs. 
Clay  and  Leigh  were  regarded  as  paragons  of  uniform  con 
sistency,  whilst  Mr.  Tyler  was  denounced  as  a  traitor  to  his 
principles  and  to  his  party.  But  the  Muse  of  History  is  now 
reviewing  the  lives  of  the  men  of  that  day,  and  her  truth  is 
slowly  but  surely  lighting  up  with  her  torches  the  wreck  of 
error  long  past,  and  will  vindicate  herself. 

Mr.  Tyler,  from  the  beginning  of  his  public  life,  was  exceed 
ingly  popular,  overwhelming  all  opponents.  He  was  elected  to 
the  legislature  five  times  in  succession,  first  to  the  session  of 
1811-12,  and  last  to  the  session  of  1815-16  ;  and  during  that  of 
1815-16,  whilst  a  member  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  he  was 
elected,  by  a  large  vote  of  the  two  houses,  one  of  the  Executive 
Council  in  Virginia.  He  continued  to  act  in  the  Executive 
Council  until  November,  1816,  when  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the 
representation  in  Congress  from  the  Richmond  district,  by  the 
death  of  the  Hon.  John  Clopton.  Mr.  Tyler  and  Andrew 
Stevenson,  then  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  afterwards 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  Congress  and 
Minister  to  England,  were  the  candidates ;  both  belonged  to  the 
same  political  party,  the  Democratic  Republican,  both  were 
popular  and  powerful  on  the  "  stump"  when  the  "  stump"  was 
a  great  moral  and  political  monitor  of  the  people  and  touchstone 
of  candidates,  each  relied  upon  his  personal  influence,  and  Mr. 
Tyler,  as  usual,  and  as  ever  before  and  after,  was  successful. 
He  had  in  March,  1816,  reached  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  his  age, 
was  elected  at  the  first  election  after  he  was  eligible,  and  took 
his  seat  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  at  the  second  ses 
sion  of  the  Fourteenth  Congress,  in  December,  1816.  His  success 
at  the  commencement  of  his  career  was  doubtless  owing  not 
only  to  the  great  influence  of  his  own  family,  and  especially  of 
his  father,  and  to  his  own  genius  and  genial  manners,  but  also 


THE  THIRD  DECADE.  59 

to  his  happy  early  marriage,  on  the  anniversary  of  his  birth,  the 
29th  of  March,  1813,  to  Letitia  Christian,  the  third  daughter  of 
Robert  Christian,  Esq.,  of  Cedar  Grove,  in  the  county  of  New 
Kent,  Virginia.  This  marriage  united  the  House  of  Democracy, 
in  the  bridegroom,  with  the  House  of  Federalism,  in  the  bride. 
The  father  of  the  bridegroom  was  no  less  the  friend  and  ad 
herent  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  than  the  father  of  the  bride  was 
the  friend  and  adherent  of  George  Washington.  Robert 
Christian  was  one  of  the  main  leaders  of  the  Federal  party, 
and  was  necessarily  so  from  being  the  honored  head  of  a 
name  the  most  numerous  on  the  peninsula  of  the  James  and 
the  York. 

During  the  late  Confederate  war,  we  were  struck  with  the 
singular  fact  that  almost  every  fifth  white  man  we  met  in 
Charles  City  and  New  Kent  was  a  Christian,  and  almost  every 
other  colored  freeman  we  met  was  a  Charity.  On  one  occasion, 
we  told  the  crowd  in  one  of  these  counties  that  they  were  the 
most  and  best  Christians  and  the  most  and  worst  Charities  we 
had  ever  known  ;  but  that  was  in  the  heat  of  war,  when  the  free 
colored  people  were  supposed  to  be  our  enemies  and  spies  upon 
our  struggle,  and  the  Christians  were  all  our  friends  and  fellow- 
patriots. 

Robert  Christian  was  a  gentleman  and  patriot,  the  father  of 
the  late  Judge  John  B.  Christian,  and  he  and  his  brother  were 
men  of  mark  and  influence.  Letitia  Christian  is  enrolled  by 
Mrs.  Holloway  among  the  ladies  of  the  White  House  as  one 
of  the  sweetest  matrons  ever  there.  She  was  born  in  the  same 
year  with  her  husband,  he  in  March,  and  she  on  the  12th  of 
November,  1190,  and  proved,  as  a  true  woman  can  always 
prove,  that  a  lady  need  not  be  so  much  the  junior  of  her  lord  to 
hold  his  heart  by  a  love-cord  strong  as  life  and  lasting  to  the 
death.  We  knew  her.  She  was  a  matron  of  gentle  sweetness, 
such  as  could  not  but  grow  up  lovely  from  a  stock  so  strong, 
nurtured  by  parents  so  graceful,  and  cherished  by  a  manly  hus 
band's  love,  to  whom  her  love  was  ever  fresh  and  youthful  to 
the  last.  Her  beauty  budded  forth  in  "  piety  and  domestic  vir 
tues."  Mr.  Tyler's  union  with  her  in  holy  wedlock  made  him 


60  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

blessed  of  Heaven,  happy  in  his  home,  and  strong  in  the  favor 
of  men  of  both  political  parties.  She  bore  him  a  houseful  of 
children.  His  chivalrous  homage  to  woman,  and  his  delicate 
refinement  of  attentions  to  a  wife,  made  her  a  devotee  of  home. 
He  was  extremely  affectionate  and  indulgent  to  his  children. 
The  highest  compliment  he  could  pay  them  was  to  count  upon 
them,  as  he  did,  with  implicit  confidence,  and  he  gave  them 
every  opportunity  to  acquire  all  the  cultivation  necessary  to 
enable  them  to  excel.  His  daughters  were  tended  and  trained 
by  a  sweet,  tender,  mild,  pious,  discreet  mother  to  all  the  duties 
and  all  the  charms  of  that  being  described  by  but  one  word — 
lady.  Mr.  Tyler  was  proud  of  his  children,  and  passionately 
fond  of  them,  but  his  wife  trembled  and  prayed  for  them.  She 
was  not  exalted  by  her  elevation  to  the  White  House,  and 
sighed  always  for  her  happy  home  in  Gloucester. 

Married  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  elected  to  Congress  at 
the  first  election  after  he  was  eligible,  his  national  career  com 
menced  just  as  Mr.  Madison's  administration  closed  and  Mr. 
Monroe's  commenced.  The  middle  of  this,  his  third  decade  in 
life,  was  a  remarkable  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  United  States. 
The  scenes  of  the  war  had  been  enacted.  Its  first  baffling  and 
futile  measures  had  been  abandoned,  after  causing  what  was 
denounced  as  treason  and  rebellion  in  the  New  England  States. 
Its  feeble  negotiations  at  first  had  only  irritated  its  causes.  The 
doubtful  affair  of  the  Little  Belt  had  occurred.  British  officers 
and  agents  had  incited  the  Indians  to  war  in  the  Northwest. 
The  league  of  the  Shawnee  Prophet  and  Tecumseh  with  the 
Creeks,  Choctaws,  and  Chickasaws  of  the  South,  had  been 
broken  by  General  Harrison  at  the  junction  of  the  Wabash  and 
the  Tippecanoe.  The  insult  of  the  Leopard,  five  years  before, 
had  been  repaired,  but  the  orders  in  council  remained,  and, 
when  revoked,  the  right  of  search  and  impressment  was  still 
claimed  and  persisted  in. 

The  war  had  been  at  last  hesitatingly  proclaimed,  under 
protest  from  the  Federal  opposition.  The  attempt  4o  conquer 
Canada  had  failed,  and  our  strength  had  been  wasted  in  the 
effort  Queenstown  Heights  had  been  stormed.  The  New 


THE  THIRD  DECADE.  61 

York  militia,  in  spite  of  all  the  brave  Van  Rensselaer  could  do, 
had  refused  to  cross  the  Niagara.  The  only  victories  on  land  of 
the  year  1812  had  been  won  at  Sackett's  Harbor  and  Ogdens- 
burg,  and  at  the  defense  of  Fort  Wayne. 

The  massacre  of  the  Pottowatomies  had  occurred  at  Fort 
Dearborn.  The  Essex  had  captured  the  Alert.  The  frigate 
Constitution  had  outmanoeuvred  a  British  squadron,  and,  in 
her  escape,  had  captured  the  Guerriere.  The  Wasp  had  cap 
tured  the  Frolic ;  the  United  States  the  Macedonian  ;  the  Con 
stitution  the  Java ;  and  three  hundred  prizes,  by  our  men-of- 
war  and  privateers,  had  been  taken  by  the  end  of  the  year  of 
the  declaration  of  war.  Madison  had  been  re-elected  President, 
and  Gerry  elected  Yice-President  in  place  of  Clinton,  who  had 
died.  The  policy  of  reinvading  Canada  had  been  pursued  in 
vain.  The  defeat  of  Winchester  and  the  massacre  at  the  river 
Raisin  had  disgraced  the  British  arms.  Harrison  had  been 
besieged  at  Fort  Meigs  by  Proctor  and  Tecumseh.  Croghan 
had  gloriously  defended  Fort  Stephenson.  Pike  had  fallen  in 
taking  Toronto.  Fort  George  had  been  stormed.  Perry  had 
won  his  victory  on  Lake  Erie,  and  reported,  "  We  have  met 
the  enemy,  and  they  are  ours."  Harrison  had  conquered,  and 
Tecumseh  had  fallen  at  the  Thames.  Fort  Niagara  and  Lewis- 
town  had  been  sacked.  Armstrong  had  failed  egregiously 
against  Montreal ;  and  the  American  forces  barely  saved  at 
Chrysler's  Field.  Wilkinson  had  been  disgracefully  repulsed 
at  La  Colle.  The  Hornet  had  captured  the  Peacock.  The 
Shannon  had  captured  the  unlucky  Chesapeake,  and  Lawrence 
had  been  killed  giving  his  last  order,  "  Doti't  give  up  the  ship ; 
fight  her  till  she  sinks."  The  whole  of  our  coasts  had  been 
closely  blockaded.  The  Constitution,  the  United  States,  and 
Macedonian  frigates  had  been  shut  up  in  port.  Decatur's  at 
tempt  to  get  to  sea  had  been  betrayed  by  the  blue-light  signals 
to  the  enemy,  and  this  had  fixed  the  name  of  "  Blue-Lights"  on 
the  Federalists.  Cockburn  had  ravaged  Lewistown,  on  the 
Delaware,  and  Frenchtown,  Havre  de  Grace,  Frederickton,  and 
Georgetown,  at  the  head  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay.  General 
Robert  Taylor  had  successfully  and  gallantly  defended  Norfolk, 


62  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

at  Craney  Island.  Cockburn  had  not  only  ravaged  but  ravished 
Hampton,  and  his  disgrace  had  been  indelibly  branded  upon 
his  brow  by  the  pen  of  Taylor,  which  was  sharp  as  his  sword. 
The  Creek  war  had  burst  out  in  the  Southern  Territory.  The 
commerce  and  carrying  trade  of  the  United  States  had  been 
nearly  destroyed.  Revenue  had  failed,  taxes  had  been  increased 
to  such  a  burden  that  the  opposition  to  the  war  grew  so  strong 
as  to  threaten  its  abandonment.  The  defeat  of  Napoleon,  in 
April,  1814,  had  let  the  British  forces  in  Europe  loose  upon 
America.  Fort  Minims,  on  the  Alabama  River,  had  been  cap 
tured  by  the  Creek  Indians,  and  the  garrison  and  occupants 
been  massacred.  Jackson  and  Coffee  had  punished  the  Indians 
at  Tallaschatche  and  Talladega,  and  Floyd  had  taken  vengeance 
at  Autosse.  Claiborne  had  routed  Weatherford  at  Eccamachea, 
and  driven  him  over  the  perpendicular  bluff  into  the  flood  below. 
Jackson  and  Coffee  had  burnt  the  Indians  out  at  Topeka,  or 
the  Horse  Shoe  of  Tallapoosa  River.  The  Creeks  had  been 
crushed,  and  begged  for  peace.  Weathersford  had  ridden  into 
Jackson's  camp  and  surrendered  by  a  speech  the  most  remark 
able  of  any  in  the  Indian  tongues.  A  peace  had  been  concluded 
with  his  nation  in  August,  1814.  In  the  Northern  campaign, 
on  the  St.  Lawrence  frontier,  General  Brown  had  crossed  the 
Niagara  and  taken  Fort  Erie.  General  Scott  had  met  Riall  at 
Chippewa,  and  Riall  and  Drummond  at  Lundy's  Lane ;  and 
Miller  had  won  the  sobriquet  of  "  I'll  try,  sir."  Ripley  had 
repulsed  the  enemy  at  Fort  Erie.  General  McComb  and  Com 
modore  McDonough  had  won  the  victory  at  Plattsburg.  Coch- 
rane  had  been  ordered  to  destroy  the  coast  towns  and  ravage 
the  country  of  the  Chesapeake.  Ross  had  captured  the  Capitol 
and  ravaged  Washington  City,  and  plundered  Alexandria. 
Eastport  had  been  taken,  Stonington  bombarded,  and  Bangor 
plundered.  Fort  McHenry  had  defended  Baltimore  whilst  the 
anthem  of  the  "  Star-Spangled  Banner"  was  written. 

The  British  had  supplied  the  Creek  Indians  with  arms  from 
Pensacola,  and  Fort  Bowyer  had  been  invaded  from  that  point, 
and  the  enemy  repulsed.  General  Jackson  had  captured  Pen 
sacola,  and  gained  the  victory  at  New  Orleans,  and  paid  his 


THE  THIRD  DECADE.  63 

fine  for  contempt  of  Judge  Hall.  Maritime  commerce  of  the 
United  States  had  been  almost  at  an  end ;  but  the  Essex  had 
swept  the  ocean  for  prizes,  and  had  been  captured  by  the 
Pho3be  and  Cherub  in  bad  faith.  The  Peacock  had  captured 
the  Epervier.  The  President  had  been  captured  by  five  ships 
of  the  British  blockading  squadron,  after  crippling  the  Endy- 
mion.  The  Wasp  had  captured  the  Reindeer,  and  had  made 
the  Avon  surrender.  By  the  intermediation  of  Russia,  peace 
at  last  was  obliged  to  be  made,  and  left  the  country  exhausted, 
with  one  hundred  millions  of  debt,  and  an  empty  treasury.  Vol 
unteering  had  ceased  before  the  peace,  and  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  had  refused  to  send  their  militia  to  the  Northern 
frontier.  The  discontent  in  New  England  had  increased.  Mas 
sachusetts  had  called  the  Hartford  Convention,  which  had 
clamored  for  alterations  of  the  Constitution  to  limit  the  Federal 
authority. 

At  last  the  treaty  of  peace  had  been  ratified,  February  17, 
1815,  but  no  concession  had  been  made  of  the  American  de 
mands  in  regard  to  the  right  of  search  and  impressment.  To 
repair  the  damages  of  war,  the  tariff  of  duties  was  raised,  pro 
tection  was  sought  for  the  home  manufacturers  by  heavy  duties 
and  imposts,  and  a  national  bank  was  established  at  Philadel 
phia  the  4th  of  March,  1817,  with  the  approval  of  President 
Madison.  The  Barbary  powers  of  Algiers,  Tunis,  and  Tripoli 
had  been  subdued.  Louisiana  and  Indiana  had  been  admitted 
into  the  Union.  The  Colonization  Society  had  been  formed,  to 
provide  a  colony  of  civilized,  liberated  slaves,  after  much  oppo 
sition  in  Congress,  denying  the  power  of  the  Federal  govern 
ment  to  interfere  with  the  subject  or  to  found  the  present  Re 
public  of  Liberia.  Mr.  Monroe  had  succeeded  Mr.  Madison. 
Such  was  the  course  and  state  of  events  when  Mr.  Tyler  en 
tered  Congress. 

There  was  a  pause  in  party  strife, — a  calm  after  the  storm. 
It  was  ominous,  and  has  never  been  correctly  described.  The 
hackneyed  phrase,  "  We  are  all  Democrats  and  all  Federalists," 
does  not  give  the  sense  or  show  the  color  of  the  times,  or  paint 
the  era.  It  demanded  a  new  observation,  and  required  a  new 


64  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

departure.  The  thirteen  colonies  had  grown  into  nineteen  free, 
sovereign,  and  independent  States,  and  by  a  severe  contest  in 
the  second  struggle  with  Great  Britain  had  proved  that  they 
could  and  would  fulfill  a  great  and  surprising  destiny.  A  new 
reckoning  had  to  be  taken  after  the  storm,  and  it  is  wonderful 
to  look  back  to  the  logarithms  of  history  and  see  the  complex 
calculations  by  which  to  reckon  where  the  ship  of  state  was, 
and  whither  she  was  tending.  Vast  exchanges  of  positions 
were  made  by  leading  men.  Intrigues  of  peace  succeeded  and 
supplanted  action  in  war.  The  results  of  the  war,  the  admis 
sion  of  six  new  States,  the  immense  expanse  of  the  eminent 
domain  by  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  and  the  lull  of  party 
strife  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Monroe,  inaugurated  a  new  epoch 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1817.  It  was  the  hour  of  transit  from  the 
Humanities  to  the  material  and  physical. 

Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  two  Democratic  leaders  of 
the  war  party  of  1812,  changed  their  positions  by  becoming  the 
leaders  of  the  Federal  party,  in  respect  to  the  United  States 
Bank  charter,  in  1816,  voted  for  by  Mr.  Clay,  and  the  great 
scheme  of  internal  improvements  by  the  Federal  government, 
projected  by  the  mighty  mind  of  Mr.  Calhoun  in  1816-17.  Here 
is  another  popular  error  to  be  noted.  This  generation  generally 
takes  it  for  granted  that  Mr.  Clay  was  the  author  of  the  system 
of  the  national  internal  improvements.  Nothing  is  more  in 
correct.  Mr.  Calhoun  was  its  founder,  on  the  broadest  views 
of  expediency,  and  Mr.  Clay  did  not  take  it  up  until  years  after, 
when  he  embraced  it  in  his  grand  policy  of  what  was  called  his 
"American  System,"  and  then  Mr.  Calhoun  gave  up  his  own 
bantling,  disowned  it,  changing  on  the  question  of  the  power 
in  the  Federal  government  to  make  internal  improvements,  just 
as  Mr.  Clay  had  changed  on  the  question  of  the  power  of  Con 
gress  to  charter  a  United  States  Bank.  But  Mr.  Tyler,  as  we 
have  said,  held  steady  by  the  needle  of  the  compass  of  Democ 
racy,  pointing  to  the  star  of  strict  construction. 

On  the  famous  Compensation  Bill  he  again  manfully  main 
tained  the  right  of  the  constituents  to  instruct  their  representa 
tives,  and  the  duty  of  the  latter  either  to  obey  or  resign.  He 


THE  THIRD   DECADE.  65 

won  a  victory  in  debate  on  that  question,  at  his  first  session  of 
service,  against  two  very  able  opponents,  Mr.  Grosvenor,  of  New 
York,  and  Mr.  J.  M.  Clayton,  of  Delaware.  He  stood  on  the  very 
ground  he  occupied  in  1812,  and  this  must  be  remembered  by 
those  who  would  censure  his  course  of  resigning  afterwards,  when 
he  was  instructed  in  1836  to  vote  for  the  expunging  resolutions 
of  Mr.  Benton. 

At  the  first  term,  too,  he  opposed  the  bill  of  Mr.  Calhoun  to  set 
apart  for  purposes  of  internal  improvement  the  bonus  and  the 
government  share  of  dividends  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 

Unfortunately,  the  doctrine  of  strict  construction  in  respect  to 
the  powers  of  the  general  government  to  build  roads  and  canals, 
was  opposed  to  the  genius  of  the  continent,  and  to  the  irresist 
ible  force  of  coming  causes,  which  have  operated  since  with  a 
certainty  and  rapidity  beyond  all  human  calculations. 

The  immense  enlargement  of  the  eminent  domain,  the  rapid 
admission  of  new  States,  the  flood  of  immigration,  the  innumer 
able  wants  and  necessities  of  new  settlers  in  the  new  States  and 
Territories,  and  the  tendency  of  steam,  all  demanded  the  exer 
cise  of  the  power  to  construct  the  national  improvements.  Had 
Mr.  Calhoun  adhered  to  his  first  foundations  of  the  system, 
resting  himself  on  the  necessities  and  proper  wants  of  our  coun 
try's  vast  new  settlements,  he  would  probably  have  been  the 
most  influential  public  man  of  his  day ;  he  might  have  changed 
the  destiny  of  the  Southern  section  to  which  he  belonged,  and 
have  made  it  keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  other  sections  of 
the  country,  which  have  since  dwarfed  it  in  the  Union,  and  he 
might  have  preserved  the  popularity  of  the  Democratic  party 
and  been  promoted  to  the  Presidency.  The  war,  which  he  so 
ably  supported,  had  shown  the  necessity  for  means  and  ways 
of  transportation,  and  peace  was  the  time  to  prepare  for  war.  He 
foresaw  much,  but  neither  he  nor  any  one  else  foresaw  what  was 
coming.  The  vastness  of  his  own  conceptions  he  himself  did 
not  seem  fully  to  comprehend.  Neither  he  nor  any  one  else  then 
conceived  the  extent  of  turnpikes  and  canals  and  railroads  and 
steam  transportation  and  telegraph  lines  that  this  continent 
would  absolutely  require  in  his  day,  much  less  how  rapidly  they 

5 


66  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

would  increase  after  his  death.  Had  they  been  begun  in  1816- 
17,  instead  of  being  vetoed,  and  steadily  pursued  on  a  grand 
and  impartial  scale,  extended  equally  to  all  sections,  North  and 
South,  East  and  West,  in  forty  years  this  Union  would  have 
been  bound  together  too  indlssolubly  by  homogeneity  of  inter 
est  ever  to  have  been  threatened  and  actually  marred  by  the 
sectional  war  of  1861.  Yes!  even  the  mind  of  Mr.  Calhoun 
erred  lamentably  in  departing  from  that  foundation,  and  the 
Democratic  party  erred  in  not  following  his  lead  on  that 
question,  whether  he  continued  to  lead  or  not.  The  Constitu 
tion  itself  allows  the  "  means  necessary  and  proper,"  and  in 
ternal  improvements  are  both  "  necessary  and  proper"  to  this 
continent,  so  vast  and  various  in  its  extent,  superficies,  topogra 
phy,  mineralogy,  products,  and  population.  Time  has  proved 
that  the  necessity  was  the  true  law  of  that  subject,  and  it  was 
in  the  letter  of  the  Constitution  because  it  was  in  the  very  land 
of  the  country. 

Mr.  Clay  afterwards  took  up  "  the  wondrous  tale"  begun  by 
Calhoun,  and  broke  down  the  party  of  his  first  love  by  the 
power  of  that  necessity.  Federalism  laid  hold  of  that  neces 
sity,  and  again  the  doctrine  of  the  "  general  welfare"  revived, 
and  has  increased  until  all  the  limitations  of  the  Constitution 
are  broken  down,  and  merely  incidental,  and  necessary  and 
proper  powers  consistent  and  congruous  with  those  granted 
have  become  primary,  discretionary,  and  optional  powers  of 
legislation  or  congressional  expediency. 

But  we  must  mark  this  period  of  a  pai  se  and  change  in 
politics  as  no  negative  epoch  of  individual  men  and  parties. 
It  must  be  treated  in  a  higher,  holier  light  of  Providence  and 
of  Philosophy.  We  have  said  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  his 
tory  of  the  United  States  the  Humanities  were  called  for  by  the 
continent  of  America ;  and  they  came,  and  did  their  work  well 
in  giving  to  man  the  best  bills  of  rights,  the  best  constitutions 
of  government,  ever  known  before ;  and  they  were  first  needed 
by  the  earlier  settlers  to  establish  the  true,  moral,  social,  and 
political  codes  for  the  government  of  men.  They  gave  our 
respective  peoples  municipalities  for  protection  of  their  rights. 


THE  THIRD   DECADE.  61 

But  the  gigantic  physique  of  the  country  required  the  physical 
sciences  and  works  in  turn,  after  the  first  works  of  the  Human 
ities  were  laid  to  develop  the  mammoth  materialism  of  this 
continent.  Not  only  had  the  Reformers  been*at  work,  and  cen 
turies  of  work  been  done  before  the  dawn  of  the  Reformation, 
from  the  moment  when  the  fountains  of  life  were  opened  in  the 
Temple  by  the  divine  disputation  with  the  doctors ;  from  the 
time  when  persecution  made  Christianity  so  strong  as  that  its 
champions  and  martyrs  proclaimed  an  emperor  over  the  seven 
hills  of  Rome ;  when  it  had  so  governed  the  world  as  to  give  it 
the  Justinian  Code,  when  it  had  founded  Cambridge  and  Oxford 
schools  in  England,  and  the  University  at  Glasgow,  in  Scot 
land.  Not  only,  we  say,  had  the  Humanities  been  working  out 
their  problems  since  the  time  of  Christ,  but  the  physical  sciences, 
too,  had  their  Columbus,  Copernicus,  Tycho  Brahe,  Kepler, 
Galileo,  Newton,  Franklin,  Arkwright,  Fulton,  Watt,  Herschel, 
La  Place,  Godfrey,  Cartwright,  Whitney,  and  other  hosts  of 
Titans  at  work ;  and  then  came  the  wars  of  Napoleon,  ending  in 
1815,  mightier  than  all,  to  develop  the  arts  and  to  apply  chem 
istry  and  mathematics  and  civil  engineering. 

All  the  results  of  physical  science  thus  studied  and  developed 
and  applied  were  called  for  by  this  continent.  It  was  then  a 
crude  world,  calling  lustily,  we  say,  for  the  combinations  of 
applied  science.  We  needed  mathematics,  natural  philosophy, 
chemistry,  mechanics,  civil  engineering,  galvanism,  and  elec 
tricity, — and  no  one  knew  then  that  Morse  was  soon  coming 
after,  to  course  metallic  wires  with  wings  of  messages  swifter 
than  the  wings  of  Pegasus,  through  the  air,  and  over  the  land, 
and  under  the  "  deep,  deep  sea !" 

Physical  science  was  to  have  its  day  begin  after  the  close  of 
the  epoch  of  1815.  Thence  the  Humanities  began  to  be  neg 
lected,  and  were  left  behind  as  too  slow  for  the  locomotion  of 
the  age.  And  therein  is  the  moral  of  the  loss  of  the  reign  of 
constitutional  law,  and  the  ascendency  of  materialism,  and  the 
ready  question  of  the  age  as  to  anything,  "  Will  it  pay  ?"  "  Will 
it  pay  money  ?"  "  What  is  the  per  cent,  of  pecuniary  profit  ?" 

But  we  must  ever  guard  against  the  mistake  of  placing  the 


68  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

moral  in  antagonism  with  the  physical  or  material  construction. 
That  has  ever  been  one  of  the  grossest  and  most  mischievous 
errors  of  the  world  in  every  period  of  history.  We  repeat,  that 
the  error  of  supposed  antagonism  between  the  Humanities  and 
the  Physiques  of  earth  has  led  to  some  of  the  most  wondrous 
discords  of  human  imperfection.  The  divines  once  dreaded 
the  sciences  of  mineralogy,  geology,  and  astronomy  as  actual 
enemies  of  Revelation.  What  was  material  was  looked  on  as 
the  opposite  of  spiritual.  But  what  a  revelation  of  Nature 
has  since  been  made,  elucidating  instead  of  contradicting  the 
Word  by  the  works  of  God,  and  proving  that  all  human  knowl 
edge,  spiritual  and  physical  alike,  comes  from  God's  works 
harmonizing  beautifully  with  God's  Word  and  Spirit  !  The 
one  is  not  more  pure  and  ethereal  of  its  kind  than  the  other. 
Shakspeare's  Ariel  amid  the  flaming  shrouds  of  shipwreck  is 
not  a  proximate  type  even  of  the  mysterious  monads  of  matter 
which  Chemistry,  with  more  than  magic  power,  puts  in  motion 
in  the  baking  of  a  loaf  of  bread  for  man's  wholesome  nourish 
ment.  Behold  Gravitation  aplumbing  his  line  of  central  attrac 
tion  !  Magnetism  standing  steady,  pointing  to  a  single  star  in 
the  heavens  I  Heat  and  light  expanding  solids  and  liquids  into 
vapor  and  air,  with  a  power  to  conquer  distance  and  time ! 
Cold  contracting  oceans  into  crystal  continents  I  Crystalliza 
tion  grouping  its  grotto  of  mysteries,  and  Electricity  shooting 
nervous  vitality  through  all  agitated  space ! 

Matter  is  not  gross ;  it  is  subtle  and  sublime,  and  must  be  so 
to  be  the  habitation  and  agent  of  mind  and  spirit.  Spirit  is 
not  defiled  by  matter,  but  matter  is  sublimed  by  spirit !  Events 
of  the  world  from  1790  to  1815  showed  how  essential  to  human 
power  and  mental  development  matter  in  all  its  forms  and  com 
binations  is.  To  be  without  form  was  to  be  void.  Not  only 
did  the  wars  of  Napoleon  show  this  in  being  everything  to  the 
savans  of  science,  but  matter  and  morals  were  personified  in 
the  two  Humboldts,  Alexander  and  William.  William  com 
muned  with  Goethe  and  Schiller,  and  drank  from  the  Greek 
and  Roman  fountains  which  he  found  in  Italy;  this  he  did 
whilst  the  younger  explorer  was  measuring  the  dragon-tree  at 


THE   THIRD  DECADE.  69 

Teneriffe,  and  inscribing  his  name  highest  on  Chimborazo. 
Alexander's  Cosmos  is  wonderful ;  it  has  put  scores  of  savans 
at  work  upon  the  filling  of  its  outlines,  and  they  have  not  yet 
exhausted  his  discoveries  ;  but  the  "  Cosmos"  does  not  exceed, 
and  hardly  equals,  the  spiritual  of  his  brother  of  the  Humani 
ties.  The  two  noble  brothers  illustrate  that  the  spiritual  is  the 
life  of  the  physical.  They  show  how  spirit  and  matter  not 
only  harmonize  with  each  other,  but  are  necessary  to  each 
other  in  God's  universe  of  spiritual  and  physical ;  how  they 
sublimate  into  each  other,  and  are  nearer  and  nearer  together, 
and  become  nearer  and  nearer  the  same,  as  they  approach 
nearer  and  nearer  in  time  and  eternity  to  God,  the  Maker  of 
both, — of  that  God  who  made  the  revelation  of  the  Divine 
Nature  tangible  and  comprehensible  to  the  finite  mind  by 
making  human  flesh  the  temple  of  clay  in  which  the  Spirit  of 
God  is  revealed  !  The  spiritual  and  the  physical  are  both  es 
sential  to  the  life  and  well-being  of  men  and  of  nations.  Neither 
must  be  allowed  to  predominate,  but  each  must  be  harmoniously 
equipoised  by  the  other.  And  this  is  the  great  first  lesson  to 
be  taught  in  the  science  of  human  government.  Up  to  1815 
the  moral  and  abstract  school  predominated  in  the  American 
government,  and  then  began  the  reign  of  the  physical  and  con 
crete,  disregarding  too  much  the  Humanities.  Each  in  turn 
has  predominated,  and  now  the  beam  is  kicked  in  favor  of  the 
physical.  The  Titanic  school  is  now  in  vogue,  and  its  first 
work  was  the  national  turnpike  from  Cumberland  to  Wheel 
ing,  with  its  monument  on  the  wayside  to  Henry  Clay,  and 
now  at  its  climax  in  California  railways,  in  the  Atlantic  cable, 
— all  resulting  in  expedient  and  practical, — and  in  the  absolute 
war  power  of  the  supreme  Congress  ! 

We  have  not  yet  begun  to  discern  that  God's  harmonizing 
government  is  the  adjustment  of  the  two  parts  of  humanity, — 
the  moral  and  physical,  the  mental  and  material.  All  now  is 
physical  force  ;  and  this  is  the  dragon's  tooth  which  sprouted 
the  armed  men  of  civil  war,  teaching  us  that  the  Humanities 
must  be  restored  ;  that  something  better  must  be  studied  than 
the  curriculum  of  West  Point. 


70  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

After  the  war  of  1812,  the  rush  of  the  crowds  of  emigrants  from 
Europe  to  this  country,  seeking  naturalization  in  this  asylum 
of  liberty,  should  have  been  appalling  to  tyrants  only ;  but  it 
begat  a  feeling  of  opposition  from  those  in  this  country  who 
dreaded  the  power  of  the  democratic  masses.  The  land  laws 
came  into  play  with  magical  effect,  building  settlements  in  a 
day.  The  navigation  acts  were  reviewed,  and  commerce  un 
fettered;  "  free  trade"  sprang  forth,  with  no  silken  sails  of  Cleo 
patra,  but  with  a  canvas  of  cotton  ;  and  every  day  opened  a  new 
harvest-field  in  the  Western  forests  and  prairies.  Congress  had 
but  to  say,  "  Let  there  be  Territories  and  new  States,"  and 
there  were  Territories  and  new  States.  The  wonder  of  the 
world  was,  not  that  their  creation  was  so  easy,  but  that  they 
were  all  so  consentaneously  assimilated  in  the  assertion  of 
rights,  and,  above  all,  the  rights  of  self-government.  The  "  E 
Pluribus  Unum"  was  a  mystery  evolved  by  America  for  the 
wonder  of  the  Old  World, — "  One,  as  to  the  world  besides  ;  many 
among  ourselves," — the  many  growing  out  of  and  strengthened 
by  each  one,  and  the  one  fortified  by  the  many.  This  was  a 
union  never  known  before, — stronger  in  its  many  parts  by  the 
parts  making  all  one,  by  one  law  for  the  whole,  and  by  the  whole 
laws  of  the  many.  This  was  apparently  a  complete  solution 
for  a  continent  so  vast,  and  the  experiment  so  far  seemed  to 
succeed  in  making  our  country  the  theater  for  a  new  life  and 
liberty  for  all  mankind.  But,  alas !  the  States  had  hardly  mul 
tiplied  to  the  number  of  twenty-four  when  the  canker  of  con 
struction  raged  red  again  in  the  memorable  Missouri  question 
of  1820-21.  This  began  a  war  of  sections  and  of  races,  which 
ended  in  secession  and  in  the  sacrifice  of  civil  liberty  in  men, 
and  of  sovereignty  in  States. 

Mr.  Tyler  opposed  the  internal  improvement  policy  of  Mr. 
Calhoun,  but  ably  supported  all  the  great  measures  necessary 
to  repair  the  breaches  of  the  war;  and  in  April,  181t,  he  was 
re-elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives  by  an  overwhelming 
popular  majority.  From  181t  to  1819  his  action  on  the  South 
American  question,  the  recognition  of  the  de  facto  independ 
ence  of  the  colonies  of  Spain,  upon  the  renewed  question  of 


THE  THIRD  DECADE.  7! 

internal  improvements  by  the  Federal  government,  upon  the 
repeal  of  internal  taxes,  upon  a  uniform  system  of  bankruptcy, 
and  especially  upon  the  inquiry  whether  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  had  violated  its  charter,  met  with  the  approbation  of 
his  constituents,  raised  his  reputation  as  an  able  statesman  and 
debater,  and  proved  the  consistency  of  his  course  in  after-life. 
He  was  on  the  committee  with  Messrs.  J.  C.  Spencer,  Lowndes, 
McLane,  and  Burwell,  to  investigate  the  affairs  of  the  bank, — 
to  determine  the  question  whether  its  charter  was  forfeited. 
This  committee  acted,  and  reported  during  the  Fifteenth  Con 
gress,  from  1817  to  1819;  and  during  the  debate  of  that  time, 
on  the  questions  whether  the  charter  had  been  violated  so  as  to 
inure  a  forfeiture,  and,  if  so,  whether  it  was  expedient  to  exact 
the  forfeiture,  he  declared  emphatically  and  argued  strenuously 
to  prove  that  the  creation  of  the  bank  "  was  unconstitutional, 
and  that  he  could  not,  without  a  violation  of  his  oath,  hesitate 
to  repair  the  breach  in  the  Constitution,  when  an  opportunity 
presented  itself  of  so  doing  without  violating  the  public  faith." 


CHAPTER  IT. 

THE  FOURTH  DECADE,  FROM  1SSO  TO  183O. 

The  Second  Term  of  Mr.  Monroe — The  Debate  on  the  Execution  of  Arbuthno^ 
and  Ambrister — The  Presidential  Election  in  1824 — General  Jackson. 

IN  the  debate  in  the  House  of  Representatives  during  the 
first  term  of  Mr.  Monroe,  Mr.  Tyler  took  very  strong  and  de 
cided  grounds  in  disapprobation  of  the  proceedings  of  General 
Jackson  in  invading  St.  Marks  and  Pensacola  and  executing 
Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister.  In  after-time  it  cut  him  off  from 
the  favor  of  that  great  and  powerful  man,  though  Mr.  Tyler 
supported  his  election  to  the  Presidency,  and  mainly  his  ad 
ministration.  His  speech  on  the  limitation  of  military  authority, 
involved  in  the  resolution  reported  by  Mr.  Nelson,  of  Virginia, 
condemning  the  conduct  of  General  Jackson,  was  one  of  the 
ablest  and  most  eloquent  he  ever  made.  One  of  its  passages 
ought  to  be  repeated  at  this  day,  or  at  any  other,  when  hero- 
worship  becomes  a  besetting  sin  of  the  people.  He  said,  "Your 
liberties  cannot  be  preserved  by  the  fame  of  any  man.  The 
triumph  of  the  hero  may  swell  the  pride  of  your  country,  elevate 
you  in  the  estimation  of  foreign  nations,  give  to  you  a  character 
for  chivalry  and  valor ;  but  recollect,  I  beseech  you,  that  the 
sheet-anchor  of  our  safety  is  the  Constitution  of  our  country. 
Say  that  you  ornament  these  walls  with  the  trophies  of  victory, 
that  the  flags  of  the  conquered  nations  wave  over  your  head, — 
what  avail  these  symbols  of  your  glory  if  the  Constitution  be 
destroyed?  .  .  .  Why  do  gentlemen  point  to  the  services 
of  the  hero  in  former  wars  ?  For  his  conduct  there  he  has  re 
ceived  a  nation's  plaudits  and  a  nation's  gratitude.  We  come 
to  other  acts.  If  just,  we  must  look  alone  to  the  act,  and  not 
to  the  actor.  A  republic  should  act  as  in  the  case  of  the  Roman 
Manlius,  and  disapprove  the  conduct  of  her  dearest  son,  if  that 
(T2) 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  73 

son  has  erred.  From  what  quarter  do  you  expect  your  liberties 
to  be  invaded?  Not  from  the  man  whom  you  despise:  against 
him  you  are  always  on  guard ;  his  example  will  not  be  danger 
ous.  You  have  more  to  fear  from  a  nation's  favorite ;  from  him 
whose  path  has  been  a  path  of  glory,  who  has  won  your  grati 
tude  and  confidence ;  against  his  errors  you  have  to  guard,  lest 
they  should  grow  into  precedents,  and  become  in  the  end  the 
law  of  the  land.  It  is  this  consideration,  and  this  only,  which 
will  induce  me  to  disapprove  the  conduct  of  General  Jackson. " 

But  this  disapproval,  though  thus  courteously,  kindly,  and 
wisely  couched,  General  Jackson  remembered  afterwards  and 
did  not  forgive.  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  the  Cabinet  of  Monroe, 
sustained  his  invasion  of  Pensacola,  and  the  thanks  for  his  sup 
port  he  received  afterwards  from  General  Jackson  when  the 
issues  of  Texas  were  joined,  which  we  will  advert  to  again. 

Mr.  Calhoun's  opposition  to  his  proceedings  in  the  Seminole 
campaign,  in  the  same  Cabinet  where  Adams  sustained  them, 
was  made  the  groundwork  afterwards  of  that  estrangement  be 
tween  him  and  General  Jackson  which  caused  the  great  split 
of  the  State-Rights  from  the  Locofoco  faction  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  the  election  of  Mr.  Yan  Buren  to  the  Presidency. 

Mr.  Tyler  was  re-elected  to  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  in  the  spring 
of  1819.  Besides  having  to  do  with  the  questions  of  the  tariff, 
and  of  protection  to  domestic  manufactures,  upon  both  of  which 
he  continued  to  prove  his  Democratic  Republican  orthodoxy  of 
strict  construction,  he  was  brought  to  act  on  a  question, — the 
admission  of  the  State  of  Missouri  into  the  Union,  with  con 
ditions  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  new  State, — directly  in 
volving  slavery,  containing  the  seeds  of  death,  which  ultimately, 
forty-one  years  thereafter,  brought  civil  war  and  all  our  woe. 
The  faith  of  strict  construction,  and  limitation  of  the  powers 
of  the  Federal  government,  had  been  contending  first  with 
"incidental  power,"  then  with  the  doctrine  of  "general  wel 
fare,"  and  now  was  sown  the  germ  of  the  fatal  faith  of  the 
"higher  law," — that  not  only  the  Constitution  was  general 
and  universal  in  all  its  granted  and  implied  and  incidental 


f4  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

powers,  but  its  prohibitions  were  to  be  disregarded  by  the 
majority  if  their  religion  required  them  to  yield  to  what  their 
moral  sense  dictated  to  be  the  divine  law  and  will.  In  a  word, 
the  consciences  and  convictions  of  a  majority  of  the  States,  or 
people,  were  to  be  substituted  for  constitutional  rule,  and  the 
will  of  a  majority  was  to  be  the  Providence  not  of  a  confederate 
but  of  a  consolidated  nation. 

It  is  a  wonder  now  that  the  restriction  placed  upon  the  ter 
ritory,  other  than  Missouri,  north  of  36°  30',  in  1821,  did  not 
then  cause  a  dismemberment  of  the  Union  Then  forcible  re 
sistance  to  the  breach  of  the  Federal  government  would  have 
been  effectual.  But  after  destroying  the  equality  of  settling 
Territories  and  forming  new  States,  after  the  entire  Northwest 
had  been  filled  with  a  powerful  population,  overwhelming  in 
the  representation  in  Congress,  it  was  too  late  to  contend  for  a 
restoration  of  the  Constitution  or  a  separation  of  the  Union. 
Slavery  was  then  doomed.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  Mr. 
Tyler  had  always  opposed  the  latitude  of  construction  by  which 
the  Missouri  Compromise  prevailed,  and  that  he  always  foresaw 
and  predicted  that  the  prohibition  of  slavery  by  Congress  in  any 
of  the  Territories  or  new  States  would  eventually  abolish  it  in 
all  the  States  where  it  existed,  by  violent  revolutionary  means. 
The  line  of  36°  30'  was  not  a  line  saying,  "  Thus  far  shalt  thou 
go,  and  no  farther,"  but  it  was  a  mark  of  the  doom  of  slavery 
on  this  continent,  plainly  proclaiming  that  it  should  not  exist 
anywhere  at  all. 

Before  the  close  of  this  signally  fatal  Congress  he  resigned 
his  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  for  reason  of  extreme 
illness,  which  for  a  time  threatened  his  life.  He  had  been  in 
Congress  five  years,  and  made  his  mark  firmly  as  a  statesman, 
as  a  consistent,  strict  Democrat  of  the  school  of  Thomas  Jeffer 
son,  and  as  a  man  who,  by  his  talents,  integrity,  dignity  and 
urbanity,  had  won  a  most  enviable  influence  and  high  reputa 
tion.  Ten  years'  service — from  his  twenty-first  to  his  thirty- 
first  year — had  made  him  known  to  the  nation  and  beloved  by 
his  native  State.  He  soon  recovered  his  health,  and  in  1823 
was  urged  again  to  become  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Legisla- 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  f5 

ture.  He  served  with  eminent  usefulness  for  two  years,  and  in 
December,  1825,  was  elected  by  the  General  Assembly  governor 
of  the  State,  succeeding  his  Excellency  James  Pleasants. 

We  have  adverted  to  the  common  saying  that  Mr.  Monroe's 
time  was  a  time  of  truce,  if  not  of  peace,  between  parties.  Pity 
it  was  seemingly  so  only.  In  the  delusive,  treacherous  calm 
of  the  times  from  1817  to  1825,  construction  gained  its  most 
expansive  latitude,  rival  factions  brooded  their  worst  mischiefs, 
leaders  rose  from  every  section,  and  theories  of  government 
began  which  could  not  but  end  in  anarchy,  or  despotism,  or 
war;  and  politicians  "  chassed"  into  new  Protean  shapes  for 
the  best  prospects  of  pay  and  promotion  in  the  current  revolu 
tion.  The  star  of  the  Great  West  had  risen,  the  public  lands 
were  political  prey  and  prize,  and  corruption  had  become  a 
commerce.  The  Cabinet  of  Mr.  Monroe  contained  no  less  than 
three  aspirants  for  the  Presidency, — Mr.  Crawford,  an  invalid, 
Mr.  Adams,  a  latitudinarian  and  fanatical  statesman  of  the 
highest  training,  learning,  industry,  and  will,  and  Mr.  Calhoun, 
a  giant  of  intellect,  who  was  a  child  in  party  tactics,  and  a 
founder  of  new  political  theories.  The  invalid  and  the  man 
whose  mind  was  like  "  Michael  Angelo's  dome  in  the  heavens, 
without  scaffolding  of  thought,"  were  from  the  extreme  South ; 
the  fanatical  scholar-statesman  was  from  the  North ;  and  the 
Ohio  Valley,  then  the  center  of  the  growing  West,  had  two  can 
didates  outside  of  the  Cabinet,  who  were  more  formidable  than 
all, — Andrew  Jackson,  of  Tennessee,  and  Henry  Clay,  of  Ken 
tucky.  Sections,  as  well  as  men,  were  rivals.  Such  a  time  of 
complicated  intrigue,  still  and  lying  in  wait,  was  not  favorable 
to  the  truths  of  the  Constitution,  and  was  disastrous  to  the  fed 
erative  principles  of  government.  They  all  tended  to  consolida 
tion.  With  the  archbishop  in  Runnymede,  we  may  say  of 
America  as  he  said  of  Great  Britain  : 

"  If  I  judge  aright, 

The  voice  of  freedom  is  not  a  still,  small  voioej 
"Tis  in  the  fire,  the  thunder,  and  the  storm 
The  goddess  Liberty  delights  to  dwell. 
If  I  rightly  foresee  Britannia's  fate, 


Y6  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

*          *          *          #          *          *          * 
The  hour  of  peril  is  the  halcyon  hour ; 
The  shock  of  parties  brings  her  best  repose; 
Like  her  wild  waves  when  working  in  a  storm, 
That  foain  and  war,  and  mingle  earth  and  heaven, 
Yet  guard  the  island  which  they  seem  to  shake." 

The  period  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration  was  an  hour  of 
peril.  So  halcyon  that  it  became  stagnant,  for  want  of  the 
storm  to  purify  its  atmosphere ;  and  it  generated  the  political 
animalcula  and  fetor  of  bargain  and  corruption. 

In  1824,  the  race  of  the  five  candidates  for  the  Presidency 
was  about  to  develop  an  entirely  new  state  of  parties  and  po 
litical  relations,  and  a  new  influence  of  sections.  The  West 
was  then  felt  distinctly  for  the  first  time  to  be  a  major  estate 
in  the  empire.  Which  of  the  two  old  sections  of  the  two  old 
political  parties — the  New  England  or  the  Virginia  school,  the 
Federal  or  the  Democratic  Republican — was  to  have  the  alliance 
and  the  combined  power  of  the  West  ? 

That  was  the  problem  to  be  solved, — the  question  to  be  an 
swered. 

The  old  Federal  party  had  two  factions, — the  one  of  the  anti 
war  school,  called  the  "  Blue-Lights,"  and  the  other  consisting 
of  such  leaders  as  had  strongly  advocated  the  war  and  all  its 
measures,  but  agreed  with  the  "  Blue-Lights"  in  the  most  lati- 
tudinous  construction  of  the  Constitution,  claiming  the  strongest 
powers  for  the  general  government,  and  that  it  was  national, 
not  federative, — consolidated  and  sovereign  over  the  States  and 
the  people.  And  this  war  faction  of  the  Federalists  had  come 
out  from  among  the  Democracy  of  the  administration  of  Mr. 
Madison  since  his  term  of  office  had  expired.  The  coalition  of 
these  two  factions  assumed  a  new  political  name,— that  of  the 
"  Kational  Republicans."  Aiming  to  catch  the  West,  they  con 
tended  for  the  largest  latitude  of  construction,  encouraging  in 
ternal  improvements  and  fostering  immigration  upon  the  most 
liberal  terms  to  magnify  and  multiply  the  settlements  of  the  new 
lands.  To  retain  New  England,  they  adopted  the  creed  of  pro- 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  >tf 

tection  to  domestic  manufactures,  and  gave  fishing  bounties  and 
passed  navigation  acts  to  her  content ;  and,  touching  the  pocket- 
nerve  of  the  people  everywhere,  in  every  section,  they  set  up 
public  credit  upon  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  as  its  pedestal 
of  power.  Mr.  Clay  headed  the  War  and  the  West  faction,  and 
Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams  headed  the  Puritanism  of  New  Eng 
land  of  this  coalition.  The  hobby  of  this  party  was,  "  the 
American  System,"  which  Mr.  Adams,  during  his  term,  carried 
as  high  as  "  lighthouses  in  the  skies." 

And  the  Democratic  party  was  likewise  divided  into  factions. 
Mr.  Crawford  was  the  consistent  representative  man  of  the 
Jefferson  school  of  strict  construction  in  its  purity.  Mr.  Cal- 
houn  had  belonged  to  the  same  school ;  but  he  departed  from 
its  tenets  as  Secretary  of  War  in  the  Cabinet  of  Mr.  Monroe, 
and  was  the  author  of  the  system  of  internal  improvement  by 
the  general  government,  but  he  still  adhered  to  the  Democratic 
party ;  and  General  Jackson,  who  had  always  been  a  Demo 
crat,  represented  the  "juste-milieu"  faction  between  Mr.  Craw 
ford  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  was  justly  classed  with  the  Virginia 
school  of  Democracy  of  the  type  of  the  war  and  of  Mr.  Madison. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  graphic  campaign  papers  ever  pub 
lished  in  this  country  was  written  by  Thomas  H.  Fletcher,  Esq., 
of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  during  that  canvass  for  the  Presi 
dency.  The  title  of  the  essay  was  "  The  Political  Horse-Race." 
Each  courser  was  minutely  described,  and  each  portrayed  as 
he  pranced  or  quietly  walked  upon  the  track.  The  prognostic 
of  the  jockey  knowing  one  was  all  in  favor  of  "  Old  Hickory," 
the  most  aged  steed,  who  had  seen  most  hard  service ;  of  long 
body,  firm  and  steady  step,  clean  legs,  in  hard,  low,  whip-cord 
condition,  of  powerful  loin,  rather  lank  in  look,  but  fire  in  his 
eye  ;  high  in  the  withers,  above  a  shoulder  set  at  an  angle  of 
forty-five  degrees ;  broad  in  the  stifle,  long  in  the  thigh,  with 
a  wide  overreach  in  footprints ;  hard  hoofs,  and  cup-footed  ; 
round  in  the  rib-barrel ;  deep  in  the  chest,  and  nostrils  like 
trumpet-nozzles ;  caprioling  not  at  all,  but  erect  and  alive  the 
moment  mounted  ;  the  daybreak  and  all  the  signs  were  for  him  I 

But  his  rival,  Mr.  Clay,  in  the  same  section  of  the  West,  did 


78  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

not  so  divine.  He  dreaded  most  the  man  with  whom  he  po 
litically  agreed,  Mr.  Adams.  He  relied  on  the  "  American 
System"  as  strong  enough  to  carry  one  or  the  other  of  its  only 
two  candidates,  and  his  aim  was  to  make  himself  the  preferred 
of  the  two,  Mr.  Adams  and  himself.  The  celebrated  Amos 
Kendall,  who  afterwards  became  his  bitterest  enemy  and  the 
most  devoted  protege  of  General  Jackson,  was  then  his  lead 
ing  editor  in  Kentucky.  The  partisans  of  Mr.  Clay,  not  as 
good  jockeys  as  the  author  of  "  The  Political  Horse-Race,  "judged 
that  General  Jackson  had  but  little  chance  of  election,  and  that 
they  could  well  afford  to  praise  him  while  they  detracted  from 
Mr.  Adams  with  every  sort  of  vituperation.  They  admitted 
General  Jackson's  patriotic  life  and  services,  acknowledged  the 
national  debt  of  gratitude  due  to  him,  but  simply  set  him  aside 
in  the  estimate  of  chances  as  a  mere  military  man, — great  as  an 
Indian-fighter,  and  the  most  successful  "Captain  of  cotton- 
bags,"  but  he  was  a  "  Hickory,"  the  best  for  ramrods,  but  not 
fit  for  "  cabinet-ware."  But  as  to  Mr.  Adams,  the  abler  he 
was  as  a  trained  scholar  and  statesman,  the  more  dangerous  he 
was  to  the  "  Great  West ;"  for  they  alleged  that  at  Ghent  he 
had  offered  to  barter  away  the  interests  of  the  whole  Missis 
sippi  Yalley  for  the  cod-fisheries  of  the  Newfoundland  Banks. 
Mr.  Adams  had  had  a  long  and  bitter  controversial  correspond 
ence  with  Mr.  Russell,  one  of  his  co-commissioners  at  Ghent,  in 
which  he  had  been  signally  victorious,  and  Mr.  Clay,  the  other 
co-commissioner,  had  been  neutral ;  but  now  that  this  charge 
was  made,  openly  assailing  his  course  at  Ghent,  by  Mr.  Clay's 
leading  journal  and  editor,  on  the  tenderest  point  of  popularity 
in  the  West,  he  caused  Mr.  Clay  to  be  drawn  out  to  say  whether 
he  indorsed  the  accusation  against  him,  Mr.  Adams,  of  betray 
ing,  or  offering  to  betray,  the  interests  of  the  Mississippi  Yalley. 
Mr.  Clay  did,  in  effect,  indorse  the  charge  under  his  own  signa 
ture  in  the  public  prints.  Mr.  Adams  met  the  indorsement 
with  indignant  denial,  and  demanded  the  proofs.  Mr.  Clay  very 
wisely  declined  to  have  such  a  controversy  as  Russell  had  expe 
rienced  with  so  ready  a  writer  and  one  who  always  took  notes 
and  kept  memoranda  of  every  event  of  his  life,  vho  was  a 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  79 

perfect  "  vade-mecum"  of  facts,  and  who  never  failed  to  use 
them  with  a  precision  and  pungency  fatal  to  his  adversaries, 
and  contented  himself  with  an  excuse  as  to  the  impropriety  of 
such  a  time  as  a  political  canvass  for  the  Presidency  to  have  a 
controversy  with  a  rival  to  the  damage  of  both,  for  the  benefit 
of  other  aspirants,  and  he  adjourned  the  question  of  fact  asserted 
on  the  one  part  and  denied  on  the  other,  to  a  more  auspicious 
period.  Mr.  Adams  reiterated  his  denial,  and  threw  the  onus  of 
proof  upon  Mr.  Clay  until  such  time  as  he  might  deem  it  neces 
sary  to  redeem  his  veracity.  This  is  what  is  called  "  the  ad 
journed  question  of  veracity"  between  these  two  champions  of 
the  same  National  Republican  party  and  advocates  of  the  same 
"American  System"  of  politics. 

In  this  state  of  quintuple  canvass  between  parties  and  fac 
tions,  the  election  of  1824  was  held,  and  it  resulted  in  General 
Jackson's  receiving  a  plurality,  but  not  a  majority,  of  electoral 
votes,  and  this  took  the  election  into  the  House  of  Representa 
tives.  The  House  had  to  choose  from  three  persons  having  the 
highest  number  of  votes ;  the  votes  had  to  be  taken  by  States, 
the  representation  from  each  State  having  but  one  vote,  a 
majority  of  all  the  States  being  necessary  to  a  choice.  General 
Jackson,  Mr.  Adams,  and  Mr.  Crawford  were  the  three  highest 
on  the  list  of  those  voted  for  as  President.  Here  was  a  strug 
gle  which  gave  the  arch-enemy  of  the  "  federative  principle" 
of  the  government  all  the  advantages  of  its  federative  effect. 
It  was  an  election  by  States,  not  numerically,  according  to  the 
proportion  of  electors,  but  by  States  in  their  federative  unities 
and  identities.  Each  of  the  six  New  England  States  counted 
one  for  Mr.  Adams,  and  gave  him  a  certain  considerable  count 
at  the  first  ballot.  He  ought  to  have  remembered  this  forever 
after,  whilst  he  was  laboring  a  lifetime  to  show  that  State 
separate  sovereignty  was  merged  and  consolidated  into  one 
nationality. 

The  events  of  this  period  were  the  first  to  attract  our  atten 
tion  to  public  affairs  and  to  the  study  of  political  life. 

General  Jackson,  in  the  fall  of  1824,  was  on  his  way  to 
attend  the  Congress  which  was  to  decide  the  issue  of  his  sue- 


80  SEVEN  DECA.DES   OF  THE   UNION. 

cess  or  defeat  in  the  election  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
He  had  come  up  the  Ohio  to  Wheeling,  and  there,  placing  his 
family  in  his  own  private  carriage,  which  he  brought  up  with 
him,  he  mounted  his  saddle-horse  and  traveled  the  Cumberland 
road,  via  Washington,  Pennsylvania,  to  the  metropolis.  He 
reached  Washington,  Pennsylvania,  in  the  evening,  and  stopped 
for  the  night  at  the  principal  hotel.  The  populace  flocked  to 
see  the  hero,  and  among  the  hero-worshipers  who  crowded 
around  him  was  the  eminent  and  excellent  Andrew  Wylie,  D.D., 
president  of  the  college. 

His  presence  immediately  struck  us  by  its  majestic,  command 
ing  mien.  He  was  about  six  feet  high,  slender  in  form,  long  and 
straight  in  limb,  a  little  rounded  in  the  shoulders,  but  stood 
gracefully  erect.  His  hair,  not  then  white,  but  venerably  gray, 
stood  more  erect  than  his  person  ;  not  long,  but  evenly  cut,  and 
each  particular  hair  stood  forth  for  itself  a  radius  from  a  high  and 
full-orbed  head,  chiseled  with  every  mark  of  massive  strength  ; 
his  brow  was  deep,  but  not  heavy,  and  underneath  its  porch  of 
the  cranium  were  deep-set,  clear,  small,  blue  eyes,  which  scin 
tillated  a  light  of  quick  perception  like  lightning,  and  then 
there  was  no  fierceness  in  them.  His  cheek-bones  were  strong, 
and  his  jaw  was  rather  "  lantern  ;"  the  nose  was  straight,  long, 
and  Grecian  ;  the  upper  lip  the  only  heavy  feature  of  his  face, 
and  his  nasal  muscle  somewhat  ghastly  and  ugly,  but  his 
mouth  showed  rocklike  firmness,  and  his  chin  was  manly  as 
that  of  Mars.  His  .teeth  were  long,  as  if  the  alveolar  process 
had  been  absorbed,  and  were  loose,  and  gave  an  ugly,  ghastly 
expression  to  his  nasal  muscle.  His  chest  was  flat  and  broad. 
He  was  very  unreserved  in  conversation,  talked  volubly  and 
with  animation,  somewhat  vehement  and  declamatory,  though 
with  perfect  dignity  and  self-possession.  He  evidently  wished 
to  impress  himself  upon  his  visitors,  but  without  any  air  of 
affectation,  and  his  intent  manner  asserted  his  superiority.  He 
hesitated  not  to  dissent  from  any  remark  or  opinion  which 
called  for  contradiction ;  but  was  extremely  polite,  though  posi 
tive  in  the  extreme.  He  knew  Dr.  Wylie,  and  had  the  highest 
respect  for  his  character  and  reverence  for  his  religious  profes- 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  81 

sion  of  the  Presbyterian  faith.  We  were  not  awed  by  his 
presence,  but  intently  studied  him,  and  we  augured  his  great 
ness  from  his  looks  and  words,  which  drew  us  close  up  to 
him. 

Dr.  Wylie  made  the  remark  to  him  that  he  had  no  apprehension 
about  the  certainty  of  his  being  chosen  by  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  unless  Congress  was  corrupted  or  beguiled  by  fac 
tious  intrigues. 

Immediately  General  Jackson  replied,  with  flashing  spirit, 
"  Sir,  no  people  ever  lost  their  liberties  unless  they  themselves 
'first  became  corrupt.  Our  people  are  not  yet,  if  they  ever  will 
be,  corrupt ;  and  the  Congress  dares  not  decide  this  election  by 
the  intrigues  of  corruption,  for  fear  of  their  sovereigns,  the 
people.  The  people  are  the  safeguards  of  their  own  liberties, 
and  I  rely  wholly  on  them  to  guard  themselves.  They  will 
correct  any  outrage  upon  political  purity  by  Congress ;  and  if 
they  do  not,  now  and  ever,  then  they  will  become  the  slaves 
of  Congress  and  its  political  corruption." 

This  remark  struck  us  then  as  indicating  that  he  was  fit  to 
govern  a  republic,  and  it  has  come  back  to  us  a  thousand  times 
since  with  all  the  weight  of  truth  and  prophecy.  He  was  our 
choice  from  that  moment  for  the  Presidency. 

The  next  morning  a  select  corps  of  students  obtained  leave 
to  join  his  escort  on  horseback  for  miles  on  his  way.  He  rode 
a  splendid  chestnut  sorrel,  the  stock  of  his  old  racer,  Pacolet, 
which  he  bought  from  William  R.  Johnson,  in  Virginia;  and 
we  can  see  him  now,  a  model  of  grace  in  the  saddle,  whilst  he 
chatted  at  ease  as  his  horse  kept  the  pace  of  a  quick  traveling 
walk.  He  saluted  us  with  marked  valediction  when  the 
students  in  escort  drew  up  to  return,  and  bade  us  accept  his 
acknowledgment  of  our  courtesy,  and  the  advice  from  him 
"to  study  hard  to  fit  ourselves  for  the  service  of  our  country." 

We  thus  first  knew  Andrew  Jackson,  the  greatest  man,  take 
him  all  in  all,  we  have  ever  known  among  men. 

The  next  time  we  saw  him  was  on  his  return,  by  the  same 
route,  the  next  spring.  He  had  been  defeated  by  "  bargain  and 
corruption"  in  Congress.  His  wrath  was  tremendous ;  but  ho 

6 


82  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE    UNION. 

seemed  to  be  still  more  inspired  by  his  unwavering-  faith  in  the 
people.  He  talked  even  more  indignantly  of  the  treatment  of 
Mr.  Calhoun,  the  Vice-President,  than  of  that  which  he  had 
received  from  Congress. 

Ninian  Edwards  had  charged  Mr.  Calhoun  with  corruption 
in  the  War  Department,  and  had  immediately  gone  westward 
to  avoid  the  investigation  which  Mr.  Calhoun  had  promptly 
demanded,  and  the  sergeant-at-arms  was  in  hot  pursuit  of  him. 
Speaking  of  his  own  defeat,  he  hesitated  not  to  declare  his  full 
conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  charge  of  "  bargain  and  corrup 
tion"  brought  by  his  friends  against  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Adams. 
He  believed  in  its  truth  until  the  day  of  his  death  ;  but  the 
version  which  he  had  received  was  not  correct.  The  "  old 
George  Kremer"  version  was  the  vulgar  one.  That  of  Mr. 
Clay  himself,  repeatedly  told  by  him,  was,  doubtless,  the  true 
one  ;  but  it  did  not  clear  his  skirts,  and  certainly  not  those  of 
his  friends  and  of  Mr.  Adams,  of  guilt. 

When  the  election  came  before  the  House  of  Representatives, 
Mr.  Crawford  could  hardly  be  counted  in  the  contest  of  the 
three  rivals.  His  friends  had  endeavored  to  seclude  him  from 
the  observation  of  visitors.  He  could  with  difficulty  be  seen. 
Many  members  preferred  him  to  either  General  Jackson  or  Mr. 
Adams.  They  were  doubtful  only  of  his  health,  and  this  de 
layed  their  determination  to  vote  for  him.  At  last  it  became 
known  that  he  was  a  paralytic,  and  the  contest  rested  then,  of 
course,  between  General  Jackson  and  Mr.  Adams.  Mr.  Clay, 
then,  and  his  friends,  had  to  decide  between  these  two.  They 
were  in  an  awkward  quandary.  Mr.  Clay  had  resolved  to  vote 
for  Mr.  Adams.  His  reason  was  avowedly  placed  on  the 
ground  that  General  Jackson  was  a  mere  military  man,  and 
one  of  very  arbitrary  will,  and  that  he  had  not  the  civil  training 
for  the  Presidency ;  but  the  better  reason,  doubtless,  with  him 
was  that  General  Jackson  had  always  belonged  to  the  Demo 
cratic  school  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  whilst  Mr.  Adams  was  thoroughly 
committed  to  Mr.  Clay's  American  system.  He  urged  his  pref 
erence  upon  his  friends,  especially  the  members  from  Kentucky 
and  Ohio.  They  reminded  Mr.  Clay  of  what  had  been  insisted 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  83 

upon  by  him  and  by  them  during  the  canvass, — that  Mr.  Adams 
had  been  inimical  to  the  interests  of  the  valley  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  ;  and  they  could  not  see  how  they  could  reconcile 
their  support  of  him  then  with  their  late  denunciations  of 
what  they  had  termed  his  treachery  to  their  constituents ; 
their  constituents  could  hardly  be  expected  to  understand  or 
tolerate  the  inconsistency;  and  it  was  known  that  General 
Jackson  was  friendly  to  their  interests ;  and,  besides,  they 
could  not  comprehend  how  Mr.  Clay  himself  could  support 
Mr.  Adams  while  there  was  "an  adjourned  question  of 
veracity"  between  them. 

Mr.  Clay  admitted  the  embarrassing  category  in  which  he 
and  his  friends  were  placed,  but  pertinaciously  insisted  on 
their  union  with  him  in  the  support  of  Mr.  Adams.  At  last 
his  friends  consented  to  unite  with  him,  provided  he  would 
give  their  constituents  a  guarantee  that  Mr.  Adams  would 
not  be  inimical  to  the  interest  of  their  section,  by  Mr.  Clay's 
becoming  the  premier  of  the  Adams  administration.  Thejr 
could  then  have  it  to  say  that  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi 
would  be  represented  and  guarded  if  he  would  accept  the 
place  of  Secretary  of  State  in  Mr.  Adams's  Cabinet,  He 
earnestly  protested  against  this  condition ;  urged  that  it  would 
impair  his  prospects  for  the  future,  and  that  his  acceptance 
of  office  would  be  ascribed  to  corrupt  motives.  But  his  friends 
were  inexorable  ;  they  insisted  that  if  they  were  to  follow 
him,  he  should  make  the  sacrifice  to  guard  their  course,  and 
they  made  this  condition  a  sine  qua  non.  He  consented  to 
make  the  sacrifice.  The  question  then  rose,  how  the  matter 
was  to  be  arranged  with  Mr.  Adams.  The  mediators  were 
selected,  and  the}'  approached  Mr.  Adams  without  any  further 
intervention  by  Mr.  Clay.  The  negotiations  were  skillfully  con 
ducted,  and  soon  reached  a  successful  result. 

Mr.  Adams  was  in  effect  asked,  "  Was  he  then,  or  ever,  really 
inimical  to  the  interests  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  ?"  The 
answer  was,  "  No,  he  was  not  then,  and  never  had  been  ;  the 
accusation  was  false  ;  he  had  denied  it ;  had  defied  the  proof 
of  the  charge  ;  had  called  for  it,  and,  as  was  well  known,  the 


84  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

question  of  veracity  was  adjourned,  and  he  was  still  waiting 
for  the  proof." 

This  seemed  sharp  upon  them  and  upon  Mr.  Clay ;  neverthe 
less,  they  steadily  pursued  their  suit,  and  inquired  further, 
"  Whether,  to  manifest  his  sense  of  justice  to  their  constituents, 
he  would  appoint  his  Secretary  of  State  from  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi  ?" 

He  made  no  objection  to  select  the  Secretary  of  State  from 
a  section  so  important,  and  abounding,  as  it  did,  in  men  of  the 
first  rank  of  ability  and  experience.  The  next  inquiry  was, 
"  Had  he  any  personal  animosity  to  Mr.  Clay,  on  account  of  the 
question  of  '  adjourned  veracity'  between  them  ?"  The  answer 
was,  "None  whatever;  he  was  content  to  leave  Mr.  Clay  in 
that  matter  where  he  was  until  he  made  the  proofs  which  he 
(Mr.  A.)  had  challenged." 

"  Would  he,  then,  appoint  Mr.  Clay  ?" 

He  (Mr.  Adams)  knew  of  none  abler  or  better  qualified  for 
the  place  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  if  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  valley  preferred  him,  there  was  "  no  personal 
prejudice  of  his  own  in  the  way,  and  their  preferences  should 
prevail."  Thus  the  bargain  was  made,  in  consideration  of 
giving  the  appointment  of  State  to  Mr.  Clay,  against  his  per 
sonal  wishes,  but  to  carry  out  his  individual  views  of  policy. 
Mr.  Adams,  the  minority  candidate,  was  elected  President  of 
the  United  States  by  the  vote  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
voting  by  States.  The  charge  of  bargain  and  corruption,  as  it 
was  made,  was  promptly  denied  and  easily  refuted,  that  he  (Mr. 
Clay)  had  ever  approached  Mr.  Adams ;  but  the  truth  fairly 
told  leaves  a  case  of  casuistry  still  to  be  determined :  Whether 
Mr.  Clay's  knowledge  of,  and  consent  to,  the  negotiation  and 
its  results  was  not  a  case  of  bargain  for,  and  in  consideration 
of,  reciprocal  offices,  and  whether  that  was  or  was  not  a  case  of 
corruption.  It  was  certainly  so  thought  at  the  time,  and  for 
years  afterwards  by  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

It  had  defeated  their  will,  it  made  General  Jackson,  the 
victim  in  their  name,  forever  afterwards  their  favorite ;  and  it 
embittered  the  contest  of  the  National  Democracy  with  the 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  85 

National  Republicans  even  more  than  the  past  contests  had 
been  between  the  Democratic  Republicans  and  the  Federalists. 
The  administration  of  Mr.  Adams  proved  rampant  in  pressing 
latitudinarianism  to  its  ultimate  extremes  on  the  Bank  and 
Manufactures  and  Public  Lands  and  Foreign  Relations,  and  his 
measures  of  internal  improvements  mounted  to  "  lighthouses 
in  the  skies,"  and  of  the  tariff  of  1828,  descended  to  a  "  Bill  of 
Abominations,"  as  they  were  called. 

This  united  all  the  friends  of  Constitutional  Limitations  against 
him ;  and  when  he  gave  his  "Ebony  and  Topaz"  toast,  which 
has  never  been  understood  to  this  day,  he  was  set  down  as  a 
visionary  of  some  sort  not  to  be  trusted  on  the  vital  subject  of 
the  negro,  and  he  and  his  party  at  the  next  election  were 
crushed,  as  it  was  thought,  forever.  But  time  has  shown  that 
it  was  not  to  be  so.  His  latitudinous  and  multitudinous  works 
were  continued  by  him  to  the  day  of  his  death  in  harness  at 
the  Capitol,  and  they  now  survive  him  in  ascendant  terrific  form 
of  death  to  the  Constitution  and  civil  liberty. 

Mr.  Tyler  was  engrossed  in  his  office  of  Governor  of  Vir 
ginia,  earnestly  endeavoring  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the 
State,  when  he  was  suddenly  called  on  to  do  funeral  honors  to 
the  remains  of  the  immortal  Jefferson.  The  elder  Adams 
and  the  Great  Apostle  died  on  the  same  day,  the  4th  of  July, 
182G;  and  the  governor  pronounced,  on  the  llth  of  the  same 
month,  an  oration  on  the  life  and  death  of  the  latter,  which  will 
compare  favorably  with  any  other  composition  of  his  life,  and 
most  favorably  with  the  eulogium  of  General  Harry  Lee  on 
Washington. 

He  was  alike  distinguished  by  his  messages  to  the  legisla 
ture,  in  the  years  1826-27.  The  second  time  he  was  elected 
Governor  of  Virginia  he  was  chosen  unanimously.  And  then, 
the  13th  of  January,  1827,  he  was  elected  by  the  General  As 
sembly  to  a  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  to  succeed 
the  illustrious  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke. 

This  was  the  first  contest  of  his  life  which  involved  any  bit 
terness  of  feeling  and  brought  upon  him  any  denunciation  or 
reproach.  Mr.  Randolph's  term  was  to  expire  on  the  4th  of 


86  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

March,  1821,  and  he  was  a  candidate  for  re-election.  He  had 
become  utterly  odious  to  the  Adams  party,  called  the  National 
Republicans,  and  obnoxious  especially  to  the  friends  of  Clay.  He 
had  denounced  the  coalition  of  1825  between  Adams  and  Clay 
as  the  union  of  the  Puritan  of  New  England  and  the  blackleg 
of  Kentucky,  and  had  met  Mr.  Clay  on  the  duel-ground.  His 
"  longo  emandacior"  speech,  comparing  Jackson  and  Adams 
Knowledge  and  Wisdom,  was  fully  written  out  by  himself,  and 
is  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  productions  of  genius  and  elo 
quence  which  ever  emanated  from  the  mind  of  man.  No  other 
man  upon  earth  could  have  uttered  it,  in  the  same  style  and 
vein  of  critical  comparison.  He  was  suffering  very  much  with 
sickness, — a  chronic  disease  of  the  bowels, — and  was  exceed 
ingly  irritable  and  exacerbated  ;  he  w&ssui  generis,  because  no 
other  man  had  his  inspiration,  and  no  man  ever  spake  as  he  did. 
But  he  was  often  egregiously  misrepresented.  For  example,  he 
had  to  drink  "  toast-and-water,"  for  the  charcoal  effect  on  his 
stomach,  and,  whilst  speaking,  often  called  for  it :  "  Tims,  more 
toast-and-water  /"  And  this  was  turned  by  malignant  reporters 
into  "  Tims,  more  porter  /"  And  the  rumor  in  this  and  innumer 
able  other  instances  got  out  and  ran  wild  that  he  drank  deeply 
and  thus  was  betrayed  into  a  maudlin  invective.  So  it  was 
that  whilst  the  par-excellence  State-Rights  faction  adhered  to 
him,  a  large  portion  of  the  mass  of  the  Democratic  Republican 
party  became  restive  under  what  they  called  his  "  eccentricity," 
— a  term  with  which  didactic  dolts,  common  enough  in  mere 
routine  to  be  justly  enough  said  to  have  common,  but  no  un 
common,  sense,  detract  from  their  superiors  in  powers,  acqui 
sitions,  and  the  gifts  of  genius.  They  united  witii  the  friends 
of  Adams,  Clay,  and  Webster,  —  the  National  Republicans  of 
the  day, — and  elected  Mr.  Tyler,  whilst  Governor  of  Virginia  in 
his  second  term,  over  Mr.  Randolph,  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred 
and  fifteen  to  one  hundred  and  ten,  on  the  13th  of  January,  182*7. 
Mr.  Tyler  did  not  seek  the  nomination,  and  he  always  declared 
that  he  was  averse  to  it,  preferring  the  honor  of  the  office  he 
then  held,  and  really  preferring,  too,  that  Mr.  Randolph  should 
be  chosen. 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  8f 

He  declined  to  say  that  he  would  accept  the  place  of  senator. 
This  he  said  to  those  inclined  to  support  him ;  and  when  the 
peculiar  friends  of  Mr.  Randolph  requested  him  "  to  say  ex 
plicitly  that  he  would  not  abandon  the  chair  of  state  at  that 
time  to  accept  a  seat  in  the  Senate,"  he  replied,  "  That  propriety 
and  due  regard  to  consistency  of  deportment  required  him  to 
decline  an  answer  then  ;"  adding,  that  "  should  the  office,  in 
opposition  to  his  wishes  (a  result  which  he  could  not  antici 
pate),  be  conferred  upon  him,  he  would  then  give  to  the 
expression  of  the  legislative  will  such  reflection,  and  pronounce 
such  decision,  as  his  sense  of  what  was  due  to  it  might  seem 
to  require." 

This  was  written  on  the  day  of  the  election,  and  was  produced 
before  the  General  Assembly,  and  yet  he  was  elected  "  in  oppo 
sition  to  his  wishes."  Mr.  Randolph's  friends  rather  assailed  his 
personal  independence  before  the  ballot  was  brought  to  an  issue, 
and  their  vindictiveness  for  reason  of  his  not  positively  refusing 
to  allow  his  name  to  be  used,  caused  him,  doubtless,  in  part,  to 
accept  the  senatorship,  which  he  did  on  the  18th  of  January,  182T. 
This  lost  him  the  personal  and  political  friendship  of  all  Mr.  Ran 
dolph's  warm  friends  in  his  own  party,  and  gained  him  no  ad 
herents  among  the  National  Republicans,  or  the  partisans  of  the 
Adams  administration,  and  was  the  first  impairment  of  his 
popularity.  The  then  administration  party  had  no  desire  to 
promote  Mr.  Tyler,  but  he  was  the  only  man  with  whom  they 
could  defeat  Mr.  Randolph.  No  two  men  of  deserved  eminence 
and  influence  could  be  more  unlike  than  were  Mr.  Tyler  and 
Mr.  Randolph,  —  the  one  genial,  gentle,  and  bland,  the  other 
acetic  and  bitter ;  the  one  less  gifted  in  genius  and  acquire 
ments,  the  other  less  winning  and  influential  and  useful;  the 
one  more  inspired,  more  heliocentric  in  his  views,  the  other 
more  laborious  to  please,  more  practical,  and  always  suc 
cessful.  It  was  difficult  for  him,  or  any  man,  to  bear  a  contrast 
with  Mr.  Randolph  as  his  successor  ;  and  it  is  the  highest 
encomium  upon  his  abilities  to  say  that  he  lost  nothing  by  the 
ordeal  to  which  his  defeat  of  Mr.  Randolph  exposed  him. 
he  lacked  in  classic  taste  and  power  of  utterance  and 


88  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

wizard-like  wisdom,  he  more  than  supplied  by  grace  of  manners, 
by  sound  judgment,  and  by  a  glowing  goodness  of  heart. 

Byro^s  description  of  Lara  might  well  portray  the  character 
of  Randolph : 

"A  high  demeanor,  and  a  glance  that  took 
Their  thoughts  from  others  by  a  single  look; 
And  that  sarcastic  levity  of  tongue, 
The  stinging  of  a  heart  the  world  hath  stung, 
That  darts  in  seeming  playfulness  around, 
And  makes  those  feel  that  will  not  own  the  wound. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

In  him  inexplicably  mixed  appeared 

Much  to  be  loved  and  hated,  sought  and  feared. 

******* 

There  was  in  him  a  vital  scorn  of  all. 

*  *  $  *  *  *  * 

He  had  (if  t'were  not  nature's  boon)  an  art 
Of  fixing  memory  on  another's  heart ; 
It  was  not  love,  perchance,  nor  hate,  nor  aught 
That  words  can  image  to  express  the  thought; 
But  they  who  saw  him  did  not  see  in  vain, 
And  once  beheld  would  ask  of  him  again ; 
And  those  to  whom  he  spake  remembered  well, 
And  on  the  words,  however  light,  would  dwell : 
None  knew,  nor  how,  nor  why,  but  he  entwined 
Himself  perforce  around  the  hearer's  mind ; 
There  he  was  stamped,  in  liking  or  in  hate, 
If  greeted  once ;  however  brief  the  date, 
That  friendship,  pity,  or  aversion  knew, 
Still  there  within  the  inmost  thought  he  grew. 
You  could  not  penetrate  his  soul,  but  found, 
Despite  your  wonder,  to  your  own  he  wound; 
His  presence  haunted  still ;  and  from  the  breast 
He  forced  an  all-unwilling  interest ; 
Vain  was  the  struggle  in  that  mental  net, 
His  spirit  seemed  to  dare  you  to  forget." 

Soon  after  Mr.  Tyler's  election,  he  vindicated  his  course  be 
fore  a  large  assemblage  of  the  members  of  the  legislature  and  of 
citizens  at  Richmond.  He  indignantly  repelled  the  charge  of 
a  lurking  treachery,  and  called  witnesses  present  to  prove  that 
if  he  had  deceived  any  one,  he  had  deceived  some  of  his  nearest 
personal  friends,  who  would  not  have  voted  against  his  nomina- 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  89 

tion  if  they  had  not  been  convinced  by  himself  that  he  did  not 
desire  the  senatorship.  He  had  bowed  simply,  as  a  Democratic 
Republican  should,  to  the  will  of  the  legislature.  His  fault,  if 
any,  was  that ;  and  he  declared,  with  pointed  significance,  that, 
by  accepting  the  appointment,  while  he  interfered  with  the 
pretensions  of  no  other  citizen,  he  had  .acquitted  himself  of  a 
sacred  obligation.  He  was  under  no  obligations  to  Mr.  Ran 
dolph,  and  was  not  bound  to  forego  any  honor  conferred  upon 
him  in  deference  to  the  wishes  of  his  personal  friends  against 
the  wishes  of  a  majority  of  the  legislature.  He  had  formed 
no  coalition  with  the  party  of  the  administration.  On  the  con 
trary,  all  his  hopes  in  the  administration  of  Mr.  Adams  were 
withered  by  his  "  splendid  message  to  Congress."  He  saw  in 
it  "  an  almost  total  disregard  of  the  federative  principle."  He 
iterated  his  honest  convictions  that  "  the  preservation  of  the 
federative  principles  of  our  government  were  inseparably  con 
nected  with  the  perpetuation  of  liberty,  and  he  cared  not  who 
should  assail  it,  whether  personal  friend  or  personal  foe, 
whether  that  or  any  subsequent  administration,  he  would  ever 
be  ready  to  oppose  such  an  attack  with  feelings  of  the  most 
determined  resistance."  And  in  making  these  pledges,  he  com 
bined  prediction  with  promise  when  he  uttered  the  words  which 
he  nobly  redeemed  in  his  very  last  days:  "  When  these  banners 
which  now  float  above  us  shall  be  made  to  lower  on  the  em 
battled  field,  then  I  may  abandon  the  doctrines  of  our  fathers 
and  forget  my  allegiance  to  the  Constitution,  but  not  before." 

How  truly  and  faithfully  the  burning  patriot  kept  that  "oath 
of  the  altar"  we  all  know.  God  be  praised  !  He  loved  him  too 
well  not  to  test  his  faith  by  seeing  his  State  banners  "  flung 
out  upon  the  battle-field,"  and  too  well  to  let  him  live  to  see 
those  banners  lower  1  He  was  spared  the  sight  of  hauling 
down  the  banners  of  State  sovereignty  and  hoisting  over  them 
the  ensigns  of  imperial  consolidation!  His  toast  in  1827  was, 
"The  Federative  System:  in  its  simplicity  there  is  grandeur ; 
in  its  preservation,  liberty  ;  in  its  destruction,  tyranny !" 

What  a  truth  !     What  a  prophecy !     What  a  verification  I 


CHAPTER  Y. 

THE  FOURTH  DECADE,  PROM  18SO  TO  183O. 

"The  Monroe  Doctrine"— Northwestern  Coast  of  America— The  Tariff  of  1828— 
The  Election  of  General  Jackson — An  Episode  and  Anecdote. 

THE  only  memorable  State  measures  of  Mr.  Monroe's  ad 
ministration  were  the  organization  of  the  War  Department  by 
Mr.  Calhoun,  the  recognition  of  the  South  American  republics, 
the  assertion  of  what  is  called  the  "  Monroe  doctrine"  of  non 
interference  by  European  powers  with  the  affairs  of  North  and 
South  America,  and  conventions  with  Great  Britain  and  Russia 
as  to  the  northwestern  coasts  of  America.  Each  one  of  these 
subjects  has  had  great  influence  in  controlling  the  destiny  of 
the  United  States. 

In  connection  with,  and  in  aid  of,  his  gigantic  scheme  of  in 
ternal  improvements  and  of  the  national  defense,  Mr.  Calhoun 
did  all  in  his  power,  with  the  assistance  of  General  Bernard^who 
had  come  from  the  wars  of  Napoleon  to  introduce  and  apply 
the  polytechnics  of  France,  and  to  build  up  the  military  school 
of  West  Point.  It  has  had  a  disastrous  effect  upon  the  system 
of  the  republic.  It  has  studied  physics  altogether,  nothing 
of  the  Humanities,  has  been  taught  servilely  to  "  obey  orders 
and  break  owners,"  and  has  finally  crushed  eleven  sovereign 
States  of  the  Union,  overborne  the  Federal  Constitution,  and, 
for  the  time,  set  up  the  oligarchic  supremacy  of  Congress.  First 
came  Hassler  to  survey  the  coast  with  his  benign  theodolite, 
and  then  came  Bernard  with  his  polytechnics  to  set  aside  the 
maxims  of  Washington,  that  standing  armies  are  dangerous, 
and  that  a  well-regulated  militia  is  the  safe  reliance  of  a  repub 
lic,  by  the  swords  and  bayonets,  shot  and  shell,  grades,  titles, 
(90) 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  91 

and  high  pay  of  the  cadets  of  West  Point.  It  has  proved  no 
Pop  Emmons  argument  to  make  Presidents : 

"  Rumpsey,  Dumpsey, 
Col.  Johnson  killed  Tecumseh." 

It  has  become  the  power  of  Parliament,  and  if  it  must  and  will 
enthrone  a  despot,  God  grant  that  he  may  be  of  the  order  and 
temper  of  Cromwell, — no  Stuart,  no  Bourbon. 

At  a  Grand  Assembly  held  at  James  City  the  10th  of  October, 
1649,  the  colony  of  Virginia,  by  its  first  act,  declared  the  decapi 
tation  of  Charles  the  First  treason,  in  denying  the  divine  right 
of  kings,  and  therefore  enacted,  that  to  defend  the  regicides  by 
reasoning,  discourse,  or  argument  was  to  be  accessory  after  the 
fact  to  the  death  of  the  king  ;  that  to  asperse  his  memory  should 
be  punishable  at  the  discretion  of  the  governor  (Sir  William 
Berkeley)  and  the  council ;  that  to  doubt  the  right  of  succession 
of  Charles  the  Second  should  be  deemed  high  treason ;  and  that 
to  propose  a  change  of  government  should  be  equally  high 
treason. 

These  were  bold  declarations,  adhering  bravely  to  the  Second, 
after  the  execution  of  the  First,  Charles.  Yet,  notwithstanding 
this  worse  than  outlawry  of  the  Protector,  when  he  sent  com 
missioners  to  take  the  "surrender  of  the  countrie"  in  1651, 
he  set  an  example  by  which  republicans  of  the  present  hour 
may  profit,  by  learning  what  the  Humanities  did  at  that  day  in 
contrast  with  what  the  physical  force  of  this  day  has  done  to 
Virginia. 

By  "  articles  at  the  surrender  of  the  countrie, — Articles  agreed 
on,  and  concluded  at,  James  Cittie,  in  Virginia,  for  the  sur 
rendering  and  settling  of  that  plantation  under  the  obedience 
and  government  of  the  Commonwealth  of  England  by  the  Com 
missioners  of  the  Council  of  State,  by  authority  of  the  Parlia 
ment  of  England,  and  by  the  Grand  Assembly  of  the  Governor, 
Council,  and  Burgesses  of  that  countrie :" 

First.  "  It  is  agreed  and  consented  that  the.plantation  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  all  the  inhabitants  thereof,  shall  be  and  remaine  in 
due  obedience  and  subjection  to  the  Commonwealth  of  England, 


92  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

according  to  the  lawes  there  established.  And  that  this  sub 
mission  and  subscription  be  acknowledged  a  voluntary  act,  not 
forced  nor  constrained  by  a  conquest  upon  the  countrie  ;  and 
that  they  shall  have  and  enjoy  such  freedomes  and  privileges 
as  belong  to  the  free-borne  people  of  England." 

Thirdly.  "That  there  shall  be  a  full  and  totale  remission  and 
indemnities  of  all  acts,  words,  or  writings  done  or  spoken  against 
the  Parliament  of  England  in  relation  to  the  same." 

Fourthly.  "  That  Virginia  shall  have  and  enjoy  the  ancient 
bounds  and  limits  granted  by  the  charters  of  the  former  kings." 

Seventhly.   Free  trade  was  granted  Virginia. 

Eighthly.  "  That  she  should  be  free  from  all  taxes,  and  none 
to  be  imposed  on  her  without  consent  of  her  Grand  Assem 
bly." 

Tenthly.  A  year  to  remove,  with  their  effects,  out  of  Vir 
ginia  was  given  to  all  malcontents. 

Eleventhly.  The  use  of  the  Common  Prayer  was  allowed  by 
Cromwell,  "provided  that  those  things  which  relate  to  kiugshipp 
or  that  government  be  not  used  publiquely  ;  and  the  continuing 
of  ministers  in  their  places,  they  not  misdemeaning  themselves." 

These  were  regularly  signed  and  countersigned,  and  again 
other  articles  were  agreed  on : 

First.  "  No  oaths  or  engagements  to  the  committee  were 
required  of  the  governor  and  council,  and  neither  to  be  cen 
sured  for  praying  for  or  speaking  well  of  the  king." 

Ninthly.  "  Full  indemnity  to  all  persons  in  as  clear  terms  as 
the  learned  in  the  law  of  arms  can  express." 

Tenthly.  An  act  of  indemnity  and  oblivion  was  agreed  on 
and  passed. 

How  unlike  this  to  the  late  Fourteenth  Amendment,  passed 
by  Congress  and  enforced  by  West  Point ! 

Mr.  Monroe  declared  a  doctrine  of  non-interference  by  Europe 
which  has  proved  a  "brutum  fulmen."  Where  Europe  has  not 
interfered  with  American  governments,  the  United  States  have, 
as  with  Mexico  in  the  past  and  with  St.  Domingo  in  the  pres 
ent.  And  they  allowed  Europe  to  send  an  Austrian  prince  to 
be  inaugurated  Emperor  of  Mexico,  and  then  to  be  deserted  by 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  93 

Louis  Napoleon  and  to  be  shot  like  a  felon,  without  a  fault  ex 
cept  that  of  filling  a  European  mission ;  and  they  have  allowed 
Europe  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  the  Isthmus  to  an  extent  of 
partial  control.  And  the  United  States,  barely  recognizing  the 
independence  of  the  South  American  republics,  gave  them  no 
material  aid  or  guarantees,  and  again  and  again  countenanced 
the  interference  of  Europe  in  American  affairs  by  themselves 
interfering  in  the  affairs  of  Europe,  as  in  the  case  of  Greece. 
And  we  did  not  stand  up  to  54°  40'  on  the  northwest  coast. 
And  here  it  must  be  noted  that  not  the  least  cause  of  magnify 
ing  the  physical  and  material  elements  over  the  Humanities 
has  been  and  is  the  gold  of  California. 

Mr.  Tyler  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
December  3d,  1827,  and  continued  steadfastly  in  opposition  to 
the  coalition  of  Adams  and  Clay.  He  took  a  conspicuous  part 
in  the  question  of  the  Panama  mission,  on  the  odious  tariff  of 
1828,  called  the  "  Bill  of  Abominations,"  on  the  Cumberland 
road  bill,  and  on  other  minor  measures. 

The  personnel  of  the  Opposition  was  too  eminent  in  ability 
and  power  to  be  resisted.  The  leaders  were  men  of  the  highest 
attainments,  and  combined  all  the  factions  of  Democracy,  con 
sisting  of  the  War  party,  the  State  Rights  and  Strict  Construc 
tion  school,  the  Free  Trade  and  Valley  of  the  Mississippi 
interests,  and  the  Southern  interests  of  slavery. 

Party  spirit  raged  with  rancor,  and  the  administration  was 
shown  no  quarter  on  any  subject  at  issue,  and  was  crushed. 
General  Jackson  was  elected  in  1828  by  a  majority  so  over 
whelming  and  so  pointedly  in  reproof  of  "  bargain  and  corrup 
tion,"  that  it  stigmatized  Mr.  Adams's  defeat  with  ignominy. 
He  and  Mr.  Clay  were  indignantly  hurled  out  of  office,  and 
their  party  of  National  Republicans  was  so  prostrated  as  never 
to  assume  its  name  again. 

And  here  the  author  of  these  pages  must  be  indulged  in  an 
episode  which  connects  himself  with  the  great  men  of  this 
narrative  and  with  events  of  importance  in  after-life.  In  the 
month  of  August,  1828,  with  a  law  license  in  hand,  we  left 
our  native  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia  for  Baltimore,  on  our 


94  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE    UNION. 

way  to  Nashville  to  be  married  and  settled  for  life.  We  stopped 
at  Tangier  Island,  in  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  there  to  part  with 
kindred  and  friends  who  accompanied  us  to  the  island,  where 
was  held  the  annual  camp-meeting  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Love  and  plighted  troth  urged  us  to  fly  with  swift 
wings  westward,  and  the  "amor  loci"  drew  us  back  to  "  Home 
in  Old  Virginia." 

Tangier  is  south  of  Smith's  Island  and  southeast  of  the  mouth 
of  the  Potomac.  Its  southern  end  was  occupied  during  the  war 
of  1812  by  the  British  fleet,  under  Cockburn,  just  fifteen  miles 
from  the  eastern  main  at  Chesconessex  Creek,  where  our  child 
hood  was  spent  during  the  war,  and  where  the  morning,  noon, 
and  evening  guns  of  the  red-coated  enemy  taught  us  the  signals 
of  horrid  war  and  made  us  early  familiar  with  dangers.  Sand 
redoubts  were  thrown  up  on  the  island,  and  their  faint  outlines 
still  remain.  Before  war  made  the  island  one  of  its  sites,  it 
had,  from  the  time  of  Asbury  and  Coke,  and  from  a  memor 
able  date  of  persecution  of  the  Methodists  on  the  Eastern 
Shore,  been  made  a  place  of  refuge  for  their  religious  worship 
on  the  occasion  of  their  great  annual  assemblages  in  camp- 
meetings.  There,  upon  the  bald  sands  of  the  beach,  every  year, 
have  the  tents  of  worship,  wooden  and  sail-cloth,  been  pitched 
by  piety,  for  now  three-quarters  of  a  century,  to  watch  and 
pray  and  preach  for  weeks  at  a  time,  in  humiliation  and  homage 
towards  God,  in  the  open  air  of  heaven,  by  the  bright  waters 
of  the  grandest,  loveliest  bay  of  old  ocean's  salt  seas. 

Healthful,  refreshing,  of  clean  shores,  and  abounding  in  fish 
eries,  the  population  of  cities,  towns,  and  country  on  both  sides 
of  the  Chesapeake,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Susquehanna  to  the 
Capes,  congregate  there  at  the  wonted  season  of  August.  It 
is  a  yearly  feast  of  fruits  and  fish  as  well  as  of  "  love,"  and  re 
vivals  of  health  as  well  as  of  "  spirit."  There  collect  the  great 
campaigners  of  the  pulpit,  some  of  the  greatest  divines  and 
elders ;  there  are  fathers  and  mothers  and  sons  and  daughters 
of  the  Church ;  there  collect  people  of  the  world  of  every  de 
gree  and  dignity ;  there  are  hucksters  and  caterers  for  the 
"  multitude  come  not  to  be  taught;"  there  whole  families  come 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  95 

with  household  utensils  and  every  appliance  which  tent  can 
afford  to  table ;  some  come  in  steamers  from  Baltimore,  Annap 
olis,  and  Cambridge,  Maryland,  and  from  Norfolk  and  Fred- 
ericksburg  and  other  towns  in  Virginia,  and  from  both  sides 
of  the  bay ;  and  from  every  creek  come  vessels  of  all  sizes, 
schooners,  sloops,  pungies,  cats,  canoes,  and  skiffs,  loaded  with 
people  and  provisions,  until  the  island  harbors  are  studded  with 
shipping  and  a  forest  of  masts,  which  gives  the  wharves  and 
island  the  appearance  of  some  considerable  mart  of  commerce. 
The  camp  is  regularly  laid  out  in  large  squares,  with  wide 
streets ;  bowers  are  erected  for  the  pulpit-stands,  and  for  the 
"  anxious  benches,"  and  broad  planks  are  nailed  horizontally 
across  the  tops  of  posts  for  sand  whereon  to  kindle  light-wood 
flambeaux  to  illumine  the  scenes  at  night.  A  police  is  care 
fully  detailed  of  saintly  watchmen,  of  pious  pith  and  discretion, 
to  keep  order  and  to  guard  the  camp,  and  the  exercises  are  con 
ducted  under  orders  duly  proclaimed  by  authority.  No  Salis 
bury  Fair  ever  exceeded  it  in  variety  of  strange  scenes,  grotesque 
and  grave,  ludicrous  and  sad,  sacred  and  sinful,  affected  and  real: 
here  a  powerful,  learned  man  of  God  pouring  out  the  word  of 
truth  in  great  volume  of  lungs  and  labor  arid  love  ;  there  his  con 
trast  of  a  little  exhorter ;  here  prayer,  and  inward  groaning  of 
spirit  struggling  openly  with  conviction ;  there  a  loud-mouth 
braying  of  hymns  sung  by  nasal  Stentors  of  psalmody ;  here  a 
"trance"  of  mute  adoration,  and  there  a  cotillon  of  "chasseing" 
shouters,  cutting  in  and  out  and  grasping  of  brothers'  and  sis 
ters'  hands  in  a  mazy  dance  of  praise  ;  here  one  "  down"  under 
weight  of  sin,  and  there  another  leaping  for  "joy"  and  crying 
out  for  "  glory ;"  here  a  calm  and  solemn  invocation  to  prayer, 
and  there  a  stirring  of  anxious  mourners  ;  here  a  crowd  of 
whites  worshiping  without  noise,  decently,  and  there  a  mass 
of  blacks  and  whites  preaching,  praying,  exhorting,  singing, 
shouting,  bawling,  yelling,  up"  and  down,  whirling  around  in 
perfect  Bedlam  time  of  "  confusion  worse  confounded  ;"  here 
the  ministers  of  the  Church  winning  souls  away  from  Satan,  and 
there  the  sons  and  daughters  of  vanity  sipping  the  siren  draught 
of  sensual  pleasure  in  all  the  ways  of  wanton  delight ;  here,  at 


96'  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

night,  the  camp  at  rest,  and  all  its  suburbs  drinking,  fiddling, 
dancing,  and  doing  worse,  uproarious  in  shameful  frolic  until 
morning  light. 

The  night  is  far  spent,  and  at  early  dawn  the  horn  is  blown. 
The  tents  rise  again  to  repeat  the  last  day's  scenes  and  exercises, 
and  the  sinners  sink  away  to  sleep  until  the  curtain  of  the  night 
falls  again.  Whilst  goodness  is  dealing  out  "grace"  at  the  table 
of  the  "  love-feast,"  huckster  and  vender  are  selling  chicken-pies, 
and  barbecued,  broiled,  fried,  and  boiled  fish,  and  peaches  and 
melons  and  cantelopes,  cider,  crabs,  and  ginger-cakes,  June 
apples,  lemonade,  and  ice-cream ;  and,  if  you  cannot  find  re 
ligion,  you  may — and  if  not  always  on  guard,  you  will — lose 
your  purse,  for  "  camp-meetin'  time"  is  always  a  time  for  strip 
ping  orchards  and  robbing  hen-roosts,  wherewith  to  make  a 
penny  to  pay  for  expenses  whilst  on  the  lookout  for  the  main 
chances  of  picking  and  stealing  in  the  midst  of  the  crowded 
camp  and  its  concomitants. 

An  old  physician  complained  to  a  sister  who  loved  the  camp- 
meeting  where  she  had  "  got  glory  in  her  soul,"  that  if  he  made 
a  feast  with  every  viand  to  tempt  indulgence,  he,  though  tem 
perate  himself  and  abstinent,  might  well  be  held  responsible 
for  all  the  excesses  of  his  guests.  The  old  lady  replied  that 
she  was  not  responsible  for  the  concomitants  of  sin  around  the 
table  of  the  Lord ;  that  if  all  even  were  to  go  to  the  "  anxious 
benches"  and  kneel  in  sincerity  and  truth,  there  especially 
would  the  Evil  One  and  Tempter  be  to  beguile  souls  and  take 
from  them  their  heavenly  food. 

"Well,  madam,''  he  said,  "while  you  were  kneeling  at  the 
anxious  bench,  a  thief  stole  my  surgical  instruments,  which  had 
been  my  companions  for  life,  and  with  which  I  saved  life  and 
limb." 

"Ah,  doctor,  where  did  you  have  those  implements  of  pain? 
Somewhere,  perhaps,  where  they  ought  not  to  have  been  ?" 

"  On  my  honor,  madam, — honestly,  I  was  not  bush-dodging!" 

There  are  many  salt-water  bushes  on  the  higher  portions  of 
the  island  off  from  the  beach.  The  camp  of  1828  was  most 
numerouslv  attended.  We  had  started  in  a  sail-vessel  from  a 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  97 

beautiful  creek  late  in  the  evening,  and  when  within  about  two 
miles  of  the  beach  the  breeze  died  away,  and  we  were  help 
lessly  becalmed.  The  sun  set  clear  o'er  the  bay,  smooth,  ripple- 
less,  like  a  mirror  of  the  Almighty  ;  in  a  few  moments  the  island 
was  not  to  be  seen,  until  the  moon  effulgent  rose  o'er  the  eastern 
land  and  lighted  up  the  glassy  waters,  and  she  had  not  risen 
high  when  suddenly  the  light-wood  flambeaux  of  the  camp 
shot  forth  their  beams,  and  the  rows  and  avenues  of  hundreds 
of  broad  and  high  blazes  were  like  supernatural  lamps  of  the 
heavens;  and  soon  the  hymns  of  the  multitude  came  softly 
stealing  by  moonlight  o'er  the  mirrored  bay,  mellowed  by  dis 
tance,  as  if  angel-voices  were  in  choirs  of  melody  coming  from 
an  island  cloud  !  Oh,  it  was  sweet  beyond  fancy's  dreams  ! 

We  could  not  but  exclaim,  "  That  is  the  anthem  of  farewell 
to  home  and  friends !  and  that  is  the  cloud-music  giving  wel 
come  to  the  West  and  to  active  life !  Here  is  a  start  with  good 
omens  !"  Tears  both  of  joy  and  grief  were  wept.  This  is  now 
told  in  the  "sere  and  yellow  leaf,"  because  the  memory  is  still 
refreshing  and  helps  to  renew  life. 

In  a  month  or  more  we  were  at  Nashville,  and  married  the 
daughter  of  the  Reverend  Dr.  O.  Jennings,  the  Presbyterian 
pastor  of  Andrew  Jackson,  who  honored  him  with  tender  rever 
ence  and  respect.  The  general  tendered  his  daughter  the  hos 
pitalities  of  the  Hermitage,  and  ordered  our  attendance  there, 
the  day  after  the  wedding,  to  make  his  house  the  home  of  our 
honey-moon.  The  marriage  was  on  the  8th  of  October,  and 
our  whole  wedding-party  was  punctually  at  the  Hermitage  on 
the  day  appointed.  We  desired  to  study  General  Jackson  in 
his  slipshod  ways  at  home.  The  weather  had  been  wet,  and 
the  roads  were  exceedingly  bad  in  that  soil  of  unbroken  lime 
stone.  The  bridesmaids  and  groomsmen  were  on  horseback, 
and  the  bride  and  groom  rode  in  a  gig  which  had  been  driven 
all  the  way  from  Baltimore,  in  a  travel  full  of  incidents,  but 
without  a  serious  accident.  Escape  from  all  disasters  in  a 
travel  of  eight  hundred  and  fifty  miles  had  made  us  too  confi 
dent  for  a  drive  of  only  twelve  miles,  the  distance  to  the  Her 
mitage  from  Nashville.  On  the  way  out  we  noticed  a  narrow 

7 


98  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

defile  of  rock  and  mud-holes  on  one  side,  and  stumps  on  the 
Murfreesborough  road  on  the  other  side  of  the  track,  which  re 
quired  a  nice  eye,  good  light,  a  steady  rein,  and  a  strong  horse, 
quick  to  obey  every  touch  of  the  rein. 

We  arrived  at  the  Hermitage  to  dinner,  and  were  shown  to 
a  bridal  chamber  magnificently  furnished  with  articles  which 
were  the  rich  and  costly  presents  of  the  city  of  New  Orleans 
to  its  noble  defender. 

Had  we  not  seen  General  Jackson  before,  we  would  have 
taken  him  for  a  visitor,  not  the  host  of  the  mansion.  He 
greeted  us  cordially,  and  bade  us  feel  at  home,  but  gave  us  dis 
tinctly  to  understand  that  he  took  no  trouble  to  look  after  any 
but  his  lady  guests ;  as  for  the  gentlemen,  there  were  the  parlor, 
the  dining-room,  the  library,  the  sideboard  and  its  refreshments  ; 
there  were  the  servants,  and,  if  anything  was  wanting,  all  that 
was  necessary  was  to  ring.  He  was  as  good  as  his  word.  He 
did  not  sit  at  the  head  of  his  table,  but  mingled  with  his  guests, 
and  always  preferred  a  seat  between  two  ladies,  obviously 
seeking  a  chair  between  different  ones  at  various  times. 
He  was  very  easy  and  graceful  in  his  attentions ;  free,  and 
often  playful,  but  always  dignified  and  earnest,  in  his  con 
versation.  He  was  quick  to  perceive  every  point  of  word  or 
manner,  was  gracious  in  approval,  but  did  not  hesitate  to  dis 
sent  with  courtesy  when  he  differed.  He  obviously  bad  a 
hidden  vein  of  humor,  loved  aphorism,  and  could  politely  con 
vey  a  sense  of  smart  travesty.  If  put  upon  his  mettle,  he  was 
very  positive,  but  gravely  respectful.  He  conversed  freely,  and 
seemed  to  be  absorbed  in  attention  to  what  the  ladies  were 
saying;  but  if  a  word  of  note  was  uttered  at  any  distance  from 
him  audibly,  he  caught  it  by  a  quick  and  pertinent  comment, 
without  losing  or  leaving  the  subject  about  which  he  was  talk 
ing  to  another  person, — such  was  his  ease  of  sociability,  without 
levity  or  lightness  of  activity,  and  without  being  oracular  or 
heavy  in  his  remarks.  He  had  great  power  of  attention  and 
concentration,  without  being  prying,  curt,  or  brusque.  Strong 
good  sense  and  warm  kindness  of  manner  put  every  word  of 
his  pleasantly  and  pointedly  in  its  right  place.  He  conversed 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  99 

wonderfully  well,  but  at  times  pronounced  incorrectly  and  mis 
used  words ;  and  it  was  remarkable,  too,  that  when  he  did  so 
it  was  with  emphasis  on  the  error  of  speech,  and  he  would 
give  it  a  marked  prominence  in  diction. 

To  illustrate  him  in  a  scene :  The  Hermitage  house  was  a 
solid,  plain,  substantial,  commodious  country  mansion,  built  of 
brick,  and  two  stories  high.  The  front  was  south.  You  entered 
through  a  porch,  a  spacious  hall,  in  which  the  stairs  ascended, 
airy  and  well  lighted.  It  contained  four  rooms  on  the  lower 
floor,  each  entering  the  passage  and  each  on  either  side  opening 
into  the  one  adjoining.  The  northwest  room  was  the  dining- 
room,  the  southeast  and  southwest  rooms  were  sitting-rooms,  and 
the  northeast  room  had  a  door  entering  into  the  garden.  The 
house  was  full  of  guests.  There  were  visitors  from  all  parts 
of  the  United  States,  numbering  from  twenty  to  fifty  a  day, 
constantly  coming  and  going,  all  made  welcome,  and  all  well 
attended  to. 

The  cost  of  the  coming  Presidency  was  even  then  very  great 
and  burdensome  ;  but  the  general  showed  no  signs  of  impa 
tience,  and  was  alive  and  active  in  his  attentions  to  all  comers 
and  goers.  He  affected  no  style,  and  put  on  no  airs  of  greatness, 
but  was  plainly  and  simply,  though  impulsively,  polite  to  all. 
Besides  his  own  family  he  had  his  wife's  relatives,  Mr.  Stokely 
and  Andrew  J.  Donelson,  around  him  every  day,  and  his 
adopted  son,  Andrew  Jackson,  relieved  him  of  all  the  minuter 
attentions  to  guests. 

Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia,  was,  we  may  say,  resident  for  the 
time  with  him,  as  he  was  engaged  in  writing  for  his  election 
some  of  the  finest  campaign  papers  ever  penned  in  this  coun 
try.  One  of  Lee's  fugitive  pieces,  on  the  death  of  an  Indian 
youth,  the  son  of  a  chief  who  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  the 
Horse-Shoe,  whom  the  general  had  taken  as  godson,  an  orphan 
of  one  of  his  victories,  is  a  precious  pearl  of  poetry  in  prose. 

He  was  not  handsome  as  his  half-brother,  General  Robert  E. 
Lee,  but  rather  ugly  in  face, — a  mouth  without  a  line  of  the 
bow  of  Diana  about  it,  and  nose  not  cut  clean  and  classic,  but 
rather  meaty  and,  if  we  may  make  a  word,  "  blood-beety ;"  but 


100  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

he  was  one  of  the  most  attractive  men  in  conversation  we  ever 
listened  to.  Alas!  alas!  that  such  a  man,  so  gifted,  should 
have  had  to  write  as  he  did,  long  afterwards,  from  Paris,  where 
he  was  not  allowed  to  be  consul,  that  "everything  had  turned 
to  the  bitterness  of  ashes  on  his  taste."  He,  Harry  Lee,  who 
was  so  severe  upon  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  writings  because 
of  his  "  Arcana"  about  his  father,  Light-Horse  Harry  Lee  of 
the  Revolution,  was  then,  in  fact,  the  entertaining  host  of  the 
Hermitage,  and  attracted  the  crowd  of  visitors  around  his  glow 
ing  words  of  commentary  on  the  election. 

The  first  or  second  evening  of  our  stay,  Mr.  Lee  had  drawn 
around  him  his  usual  crowd  of  listeners  ;  but  we  were  the  more 
special  guests  of  Mrs.  Jackson.  She  was  a  descendant  of  Col 
onel  Charles  Stokely,  of  our  native  county,  Accomack,  Virginia, 
and  we  had  often  seen  his  old  mansion,  an  old  Hanoverian  hip- 
roofed  house,  standing  on  the  seaside,  not  far  above  Metompkin  ; 
and  she  had  often  heard  her  mother  talk  of  the  old  Assawaman 
Church,  not  very  far  above  Colonel  Stokely 's  house,  pulled  down 
long  before  our  day,  endowed  with  its  silver  communion-service 
by  our  great-grandfather,  George  Douglas,  Esq.,  of  Assawaman. 
Thus  she  was  not  only  a  good  Presbyterian,  whose  pastor's 
daughter  was  the  bride,  and  she  a  Presbyterian  too,  but  the 
groom  was  from  the  county  of  her  ancestors,  in  Virginia,  and 
could  tell  her  something  about  traditions  she  had  heard  of  the 
family  from  which  she  sprung.  With  pious  devotion  to  her 
mother's  family,  she  desired  to  have  a  talk  with  us  particularly, 
and  formed  a  cosy  group  of  quiet  chat  in  the  northeast  corner 
room  leading  to  the  garden.  The  room  had  a  north  window, 
diagonal  from  the  door  leading  to  the  garden.  At  this  door  her 
group  was  formed,  fronting,  in  a  semicircle,  this  north  window 
of  the  room,  the  garden  door  on  our  right.  First,  on  our  right, 
next  the  window,  was  old  Judge  Overton,  one  of  General  Jack 
son's  earliest  and  best  friends.  He  was  a  man  who  had  made 
his  mark  in  law  and  politics,  but  was  not  pious,  and  was  a 
queer-looking  little  old  man.  Small  in  stature,  and  cut  into 
sharp  angles  at  every  salient  point,  a  round,  prominent,  gourd- 
like,  bald  cranium,  a  peaked,  Roman  nose,  a  prominent,  sharp, 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  101 

but  manly  chin,  and  he  had  lost  his  teeth  and  swallowed  his 
lips.  "  There  was  danger,"  as  Mr.  Philip  Doddridge  onoe  said 
of  his  own  nose  and  chin,  "  of  their  coming  together,  for  many 
sharp  words  had  passed  between  them  !"  Next  to  him,  on  his 
left,  sat  General  Jackson,  his  hair  always  standing  straight  up 
and  out,  but  he  in  his  mildest  mood  of  social  suavity ;  on  his 
left  the  Reverend  Dr.  Jennings,  one  of  the  sweetest  men  in 
society,  very  distinguished  as  a  lawyer  first,  and  then  as  a 
divine,  with  a  rare  sense  of  humor  which  even  his  religious  zeal 
could  not  always  repress,  and  yet  awfully  earnest  and  severe 
against  all  levity;  on  his  left  was  Mrs.  Jackson,  a  lady  who, 
doubtless,  was  once  a  form  of  rotund  and  rubicund  beauty,  but 
now  was  very  plethoric  and  obese,  and  seemingly  suffered 
from  what  was  called  phthisis,  and  talked  low  but  quick,  with 
a  short  and  wheezing  breath,  the  very  personation  of  affable 
kindness  and  of  a  welcome  as  sincere  and  truthful  as  it  was 
simple  and  tender ;  on  her  left  was  ourself,  responding  to  her 
every  inquiry  about  things  her  mother  had  handed  down  con 
cerning  the  Stokely  family.  On  our  left  sat  Henry  Baldwin, 
the  son  of  Judge  Baldwin,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  one  of  the  groomsmen,  a  gentleman  of  fine  culture,  good 

sense,  and  taste  ;  and  on  his  left  was  sweet  Mary ,  one 

of  the  bridesmaids.  Thus  the  dramatis  persons  sat  in  the 
scene. 

Judge  Overton  had  thrown  over  his  head  a  bandanna  hand 
kerchief,  and  sat  all  the  time  muttering  or  "mounching,  mounch- 
ing,  mounching"  on  his  toothless  gums,  looking  like  the  Witch 
of  Endor.  His  profile,  to  the  eye,  cut  its  outline  clear  upon 
the  window-pane.  He  and  General  Jackson  and  Dr.  Jennings, 
at  first,  were  talking  on  the  topics  of  the  day.  Mr.  Baldwin 

was  whispering  to  Mary ,  and  Mrs.  Jackson  was  for  an 

hour  or  two  questioning  us  about  her  people  and  their  place  in 
Accomack.  We  had  just  described  to  her,  as  nearly  as  we  could 
recollect,  one  of  the  goblets  of  the  plain  plate  of  Assawamau 
Church,  the  only  piece  of  it  we  had  seen,  in  the  house  of  a 
maternal  great-uncle,  when  suddenly  she  seemed  satisfied,  or 
the  subject  was  exhausted,  and  she  turned  to  Dr.  Jennings, 


102  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

saying,  "  Doctor,  a  short  time  ago  I  came  near  sending  for  you 
on  a  very  important  concern  to  me." 

"  Indeed,  madam  !  I  should  have  been  pleased  to  obey  your 
call,  and,  duty  permitting,  would  have  come  with  pleasure  to 
serve  you  in  any  way  I  could.  Pray,  what  was  the  occasion  ? 
Perhaps,  if  permitted,  I  may  still  render  you  a  service." 

"  Oh,  doctor !  at  a  time  lately,  but  for  a  moment,  I  feared  the 
general  was  giving  way  to  the  Swedenborgian  doctrines.  I 
wished  you  to  talk  to  him  on  the  subject  and  to  counsel  me." 

We  looked  at  the  general  and  closely  watched  his  expression. 
His  eye  was  soft  whenever  he  looked  at  his  cherished  wife ;  and 
raising  himself  a  little  in  the  attitude  of  surprise,  until  he  un 
derstood  her  sudden  allusion  to  himself,  but  calm  and  composed, 
he  said, — 

"  Pooh,  pooh,  madam  !  your  anxiety  was  vain.  I  was  in  no 
danger  of  giving  way  to  the  Swedenborgian  doctrines;  all  I 
said  was  that  some  of  Swedenborg's  conceptions  of  Deity  were 
the  most  soo-blime  [pronouncing  sublime  as  if  spelt  "soo," 
and  emphasizing  the  first  syllable]  that  tapped  the  drum  eccle 
siastic." 

"  What !"  exclaimed  the  doctor  of  divinity,  "  do  you  pre 
tend  to  compare  the  crudities  of  Swedenborg  with  the  divine 
conceptions  of  David,  or  Job,  or  Isaiah  ?" 

"  Yes,"  said  the  hero,  for  he  had  said  it,  and  his  whole  mien 
changed  to  one  of  pious  pugnacity.  "  Yes,  sir,  Swedenborg's 
conceptions,  by  being  among  the  most  sooblime,  only  prove 
that  the  Almighty  Creator  has  at  all  times,  among  all  nations, 
inspired  the  souls  of  men  with  images  of  Himself,  and  the 
original  inspirations  are  in  some  instances  as  sooblime  as  are 
the  revelations  of  divinity:  both  come  from  God." 

His  positiveness  appeared  in  his  flashing  eye,  his  erect  form, 
his  hair  standing  up  and  out,  in  his  compressed  lips,  and  in  his 
upraised  gesture  with  hand  clinched.  There  then  was  a  theo 
logical  fight.  It  was  exactly  what  we  wanted  to  see :  had  he 
logic  and  metaphysics  in  him  ?  The  discussion  which  ensued 
was  rich  and  rare.  It  was  the  scimitar  of  Saladin  against  the 
battle-axe  of  Cceur  de  Lion  1  The  doctor  exact,  a  fencer  poised, 


THE  FO  UR  TH  DEC  A  DE.  103 

quick,  steady,  skilled,  with  weapons  keen  enough  to  cut  eider- 
clown  ;  he  would  seem  to  run  in  the  Damascus  blade  and  turn 
the  point  coolly  to  feel  for  the  vital  point,  but  Richard  did 
not  fall  nor  faint,  but  thrashed  about  him  with  his  massive 
axe  as  a  harvest-man  would  wield  the  flail !  It  was  sharp 
science  against  a  strong  arm  which  wanted  not  natural 
"  cunning." 

Both  forgot  the  witnesses  of  the  single-handed  struggle,  and 
were  too  busy  in  the  tight  try  of  argument  to  notice  any  inter 
polations  of  the  listeners  and  lookers-on. 

The  Witch  of  Endor  was  not  silent  in  the  fray  :  "mumble, 
mumble,  mumble"  went  his  chin  and  nose,  and,  catching  his 
own  argument  between  two  fingers  and  his  thumb,  he  would 
try  to  push  it  in,  but  it  always  failed  to  enter  the  list,  and 
stuck  in  the  palm  of  his  hand,  he  each  time  starting  to  say  with 
a  vim,  "  By  G — d  !"  but  turning  that  insult  to  the  divine  pres 
ent  into  the  words,  "By  G — Jupiter!"  It  was  ludicrous,  and 
we  nearly  clapped  our  hands  with  the  "  gaudia  certaminis," 
when  suddenly  Mrs.  Jackson  reached  across  our  knees,  and 
touched  Mr.  Baldwin,  saying,  "Mr.  Baldwin,  dear,  you  are 
sleepy!"  The  startled  groomsman,  broken  down  by  his  wait 
ing  on  matrimony  for  two  or  three  nights,  suddenly  opened  his 
eyes  from  a  nod,  and  rubbing  them  with  his  knuckles,  protested 
that  he  was  not  at  all  sleepy,  but  wide  awake  and  enjoying  the 
discussion !  His  protestations  were  all  in  vain.  Up  Mrs. 
Jackson  would  rise  and  ring  the  bell  for  servant  and  candle  to 
light  the  dear  child  to  bed  !  This  broke  the  discussion  and 
separated  the  coterie  for  the  night.  As  we  rose  to  leave  the 
room,  Dr.  Jennings  touched  me  and  said,  sotto  voce,  "  Henry, 
did  you  hear  that  poor  old  sinner  turn  '  By  God'  into  '  By 
Jupiter'  ?"  "  Yes,  and  it  touched  me  as  it  did  you,  doctor ; 
not  only  to  shock  my  piety,  but  to  shake  my  risibles." 

After  several  days  of  delightful  delay,  we  moved  to  leave  the 
Hermitage,  but  day  after  day  were  detained  by  the  entreaty 
of  General  Jackson  and  his  lady.  At  last  we  were  resolved 
positively  to  start;  still,  we  were  not  allowed  to  leave  until 
after  dinner,  and  the  hour  for  dining  was  as  late  as  4  P.M. 


104  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

We  apprehended  anxiously  the  danger  of  the  defile  of  stumps 
and  mud-holes  on  the  Murfreesborough  road,  on  the  way  back 
to  Nashville.  The  road  then  was  not  paved,  and  it  would  cer 
tainly  be  dark  when  we  arrived  at  the  point  of  danger.  We 
urged  this  necessity  for  early  departure,  but  in  vain.  After 
dinner  the  general  insisted  it  was  too  late,  but  ordered  the 
horses,  and  whilst  awaiting  their  being  brought  to  the  door,  he 
took  his  pipe,  sat  on  the  sill  of  the  front  door,  and  with  a  group 
in  the  porch  around  him,  consisting  of  several  of  the  family  and 
guests,  repeatedly  warned  us  that  it  would  be  dark  before  we 
could  travel  half  the  way,  that  the  road  was  unsafe,  and  that 
we  would  certainly  meet  with  disaster.  This  led  to  tales  by 
one  and  another  of  the  group  of  "hairbreadth  'scapes."  In 
every  instance  narrated  of  disaster  we  noticed  that  he  point 
edly  and  oracularly  said,  "Ah  !  young  man,  you  did  not  trust 
in  Providence."  This  was  repeatedly  said,  adding,  "Never 
encounter  danger  if  you  can  avoid  it :  if  inevitable,  meet  it 
more  than  half-way;  but  whether  to  avoid  or  encounter  it,  trust 
altogether  in  Providence."  We  were  struck  by  his  repeated 
remarks  of  this  sort,  so  much  so  that  we  could  not  but  think, 
"Is  this  real  faith,  or  is  it  not  like  an  aifected  Napoleonic 
belief  and  trust  in  Fate  ?" 

The  gig  came  up  to  the  door.  He  rose  to  wait  on  the  bride ; 
and  in  handing  her  up  the  step,  he  said  to  her,  "  I  have  tried 
my  best  to  protect  you,  madam,  but  your  chosen  one  seems  too 
self-reliant  to  heed  your  safety  or  my  admonitions ;  I  fear  he 
don't  trust  in  Providence,  and  will  meet  with  disaster  on  the 
way.  I  shall  be  anxious  until  I  meet  you  at  church,  safe  in 
Nashville,  Sabbath  next.  Trust  in  Providence,  and  you  will 
not  be  hurt;  and  you  have  a  goodly  escort  to  help  you  in  time 
of  need.  May  Providence  protect  you  ! — it  seems  your  husband 
thinks  he  can  protect  himself." 

We  drove  off,  and  hurried  on  faster  than  the  saddle-horses 
traveled,  in  order  to  reach  the  "  stumps  and  holes"  before  dark; 
but  darkness  overtook  us  ;  and,  on  approaching  the  place,  the 
road  was  scrutinized ;  we  drove  slowly  and  steadily,  but  vision 
was  perfectly  deceived.  The  wagon-wheels,  daubed  with  the 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  105 

mortar  of  stiff  clay,  had  to  pass  so  close  to  an  inclined  stump 
that  the  dripping  mud  had  fallen  on  the  stump  and  colored  it 
precisely  like  the  bed  of  the  road  and  the  offal  of  the  stump  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  road  looked  black,  and  was  taken  for  the 
stump  itself;  and  this  led  the  left  wheel  directly  up  and  over  it, 
overturning  the  gig  to  the  right  in  the  mortar  of  clay  in  the  road. 
The  horse  was  a  generous  lion  of  draught,  and,  though  spirited, 
perfectly  broken.  The  right  shaft  was  broken,  and  the  fragments 
pricked  his  right  hind  leg  and  made  him  restive;  but  we  re 
mained  perfectly  still,  steadily  grasping  the  reins  until  the  bride 
could  creep  out  into  the  road,  and  then,  gradually  relaxing  the 
rein,  we  too  crawled  into  the  mud.  The  breeching  and  traces 
were  immediately  undone  and  slipped  out,  and  we  found  a  dry 
spot  of  leaves  on  the  roadside  to  stand  on.  So  far  was  the  bride 
from  being  put  out  or  frightened,  that  she  joined  in  the  propo 
sition  to  tie  the  horse  in  the  woods  and  hide  ourselves  behind 
a  large  tree  until  the  cavalcade  escort  should  come  up.  In  a 
short  time  they  arrived  at  the  spot,  and,  finding  the  gig  upset 
and  broken  in  the  road,  and  no  sign  of  the  horse,  or  harness,  or 
ourselves,  they  set  up  a  wail  of  agony  most  distressing.  Dr. 
Thomas  R.  Jennings  was  so  shocked  that  we  could  conceal 
ourselves  no  longer,  but  ran  out  and  relieved  the  party.  For 
tunately  a  four-horse  wagon  soon  drove  up,  and  the  driver 
having  an  axe  and  other  tools  with  which  to  cut  a  pole  and 
straps  to  lash  on  the  broken  shaft,  it  was  repaired,  and  we 
reached  Nashville  safe,  but  very  muddy,  in  the  wedding  fine 
clothes. 

The  next  Sabbath  General  Jackson  and  his  lady  came  into 
Mr.  John  C.  McLemore's,  and,  calling  at  the  house  of  Dr. 
Jennings,  at  once  inquired  for  our  safety  ;  when  told  of  our 
"escape"  from  hurt,  again  he  repeated,  "Ah  !  young  man,  you 
did  not  trust  in  Providence!  You  would  not  be  advised  to 
avoid  danger  when  you  could.  But  for  your  trusting  wife,  it 
would  have  been  worse  for  both." 

We  then  began  to  perceive  what  he  meant  by  trusting  in 
Providence.  It  was  no  inactive  belief,  no  blind  faith  ;  but 
it  was  to  do  what  was  prudent,  careful,  and  obviously  most 


106  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

safe,  and  leave  the  "  whole  care"  of  the  result  to  God.  It  was 
to  do  every  little  thing  necessary  to  be  observed  by  human 
foresight  and  precaution,  however  inapt,  apparently,  to  the 
end,  as  the  mother  of  Moses  did  with  the  preparation  of  bul 
rushes  and  slime  and  pitch,  and  then  put  the  basket  on  the 
waters,  however  much  exposed  to  the  crocodile  and  the  Nile,  and 
leave  the  whole  care  for  conjunction  of  causes  and  effects  to  the 
goodness  and  wisdom  of  God !  Contrary  to  the  general  opinion 
of  strangers  concerning  him,  Jackson  was  an  abundantly  cautious 
man,  and  yet  his  exquisite  tact  often  imposed  upon  the  world 
by  what  he  called  "the  policy  of  rashness," — of  doing  what 
would  be  least  expected  of  him  under  the  circumstances  by  his 
enemies, — violating  general  rules  to  obtain  the  advantage  of 
surprise.  That,  as  well,  was  the  very  cunning  of  caution. 

We  heard  numberless  anecdotes  of  him  illustrating  the  same 
characteristic  of  consummate  tact.  He  knew  that  the  world, 
or  those  who  knew  him  least,  counted  him  of  a  temperament 
weak,  impassioned,  impulsive,  and  inconsiderate  in  action;  and 
he  often  turned  this  mistake  as  to  his  character  into  a  large 
capital  of  advantage.  He  was  a  consummate  actor,  never 
stepped  without  knowing  and  marking  his  ground,  but  knew 
that  most  men  thought  he  was  not  a  man  of  .calculations.  This 
enabled  him  to  blind  them  by  his  affectation  of  passion  and  im 
pulse,  and  neither  Talma,  nor  Garrick,  nor  Kemble,  nor  Kean 
could  excel  him  in  the  "  histrionics."  Frequently,  when  strangers 
thought  he  was  in  a  towering  passion,  his  whole  excitement  was 
deliberately  simulated  for  effect.  For  example,  when  bank  com 
mittees  would  come  from  Philadelphia  or  elsewhere  to  over 
whelm  him  with  memorials  upon  the  removal  of  the  deposits, 
and  to  represent  the  crash  of  commercial  credit  by  his  anti-bank 
policy,  he  was  fixed  in  his  plans,  and  knew  that  they  could  not 
change  his  purpose,  and  that  he  could  argue  and  remonstrate  with 
them  only  in  vain;  and  he  would  lay  down  his  pipe,  rise  to  his 
full  height  of  stature  and  voice,  and  seem  to  foam  at  the  mouth 
whilst  declaiming  vehemently  against  the  dangers  of  a  money 
monopoly :  "  Yes,-  he  had  rather  be  in  the  desert  of  Sahara, 
dying  of  thirst,  than  drink  from  such  a  fountain  of  corruption  1" 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  107 

The  committees  would  retire  in  disgust,  thinking  they  were 
leaving  a  madman,  and  as  soon  as  they  were  gone  he  would 
resume  his  pipe,  and,  chuckling,  say,  "  They  thought  I  was 
mad !"  and  coolly  comment  on  the  policy  of  "  never  compro 
mising  a  vital  issue ;  one  always  lost  friends  and  never  ap 
peased  enemies."  He  was  often  derided  for  want  of  learning. 
He  had  read  very  few  books,  and  he  made  his  supposed  igno 
rance  an  instrument  of  policy.  To  illustrate  this :  General  Call 
and  the  Honorable  Joseph  L.  White  were  rivals  from  Florida 
for  his  favor.  White  wanted  a  foreign  mission.  Call  was  one 
of  the  "  braves"  of  the  general's  campaigns,  and  White  was  an 
accomplished  scholar,  lawyer,  and  courtier,  but  not  of  that  tone 
which  stamped  a  man  with  General  Jackson.  White  was  far  the 
fitter  of  the  two  for  diplomatic  life ;  but  General  Jackson  pre 
ferred  sturdier  stuff  than  mere  manners  and  cultivation.  He 
wished  not  to  offend  White,  but  was  in  favor  of  a  pet  comrade 
in  arms,  whose  sense  and  courage  he  had  tried.  The  delay  of 
preference  between  them  was  long.  At  last  an  incident  occurred 
which  assured  White  that  the  beam  would  kick  in  his  favor. 
The  true  boundary  between  Florida  and  Louisiana  had  long 
been  hidden  in  a  secret  treaty  between  France  and  Spain. 
Both  territories  had  been  ceded  to  the  United  States,  but  the 
limits  had  not  been  accurately  defined,  and  were  so  uncertain 
that  numerous  disputes  as  to  land-titles  had  arisen  on  the  bor 
ders  of  the  State  and  Territory.  To  settle  the  line,  and  ascer 
tain  precisely  where  the  French  and  where  the  Spanish  laws 
furnished  the  rule  of  land-titles,  a  large  fee  was  raised  by  the 
proprietors  and  claimants  to  send  Mr.  White*  to  Europe  to 
obtain  the  clause  relating  to  boundary  embraced  in  the  secret 
treaty.  The  fee  was  deposited  with  Barings,  at  London,  to  be 
paid  to  Mr.  White  whenever  he  presented  the  copy  of  the  clause 
of  the  secret  treaty  as  to  the  boundary.  Mr.  White  made  due 
preparation,  and  among  other  credentials  took  letters  to  Lord 
Palmerston.  He  was  received  kindly  by  him,  and  told  him  his 
mission.  He  desired  a  favorable  presentation  to  Prince  Talley 
rand,  then  envoy  from  France  at  the  Court  of  St.  James.  Lord 
Palmerston  told  him  that  the  most  he  could  do  was  to  give  him 


108  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

opportunity  with  the  prince.  He  would  give  a  dinner,  and 
place  Mr.  White's  seat  next  to  that  of  Prince  Talleyrand,  and  he 
must  then  watch  his  chances  and  make  his  own  approaches. 
There  was  no  telling  what  tact  to  observe  or  what  artifice  to 
employ  to  obtain  the  patronage  of  Prince  Talleyrand.  The 
dinner-hour  came,  and  White  found  his  card  on  the  plate  next 
to  that  of  the  prince  at  table.  During  the  dinner  the  prince 
questioned  minutely  on  many  American  matters,  and  White  was 
so  obliging  and  satisfactory  that  the  prince  was  caught  in  the 
humor  to  admit  the  opening  of  his  budget. 

"  Yes,  the  boundaries  between  the  French  and  Spanish  terri 
tories  had  been  fixed  by  a  certain  treaty  which  was  secret ;  but 
that  clause  was  no  secret,  and  could  be  had  at  his  order,  and 
he  would  write  for  it  to  be  copied  in  form,  with  a  voucher  to 
its  being  all  cognate  to  the  boundary." 

Thus  in  a  few  days  it  was  obtained  under  the  proper  seals 
and  vouchers,  and  being  placed  in  White's  hands  by  Talleyrand, 
it  was  presented  to  the  Barings,  and  White's  fee  for  obtaining 
it  was  cashed  by  them.  He  immediately  prepared  for  a  conti 
nental  tour.  He  purchased  a  rich  English  equipage,  a  "little 
moving  England"  of  a  coach,  and  a  traveling  "  turn-out"  of 
"  bloods"  for  the  route  from  Paris  to  Rome  and  Naples.  He 
was  " passported"  and  " couriered"  as  "the  Hon.  Jos.  L. 
White,  a  Delegate  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  of  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States  of  America,  from  Florida,"  and  pro 
gressed  in  state  grandly  until  he  came  into  some  one  of  the 
little  states  of  Jtaly,  when  and  where  he  was  suddenly  sum 
moned  to  appear  before  his  Highness  the  Prince.  Aha!  what 
had  he  done,  omitted,  said  ?  Why  summoned  ?  Had  he 
uttered  aught  against  the  Pope  ?  Was  he  suspected  ?  Of 
what? 

Obeying  the  summons  thus  in  doubt  and  distrust,  what  was 
his  relief  when  he  found  himself  received  most  graciously  I  He 
was  "the  Hon.  Jos.  L.  White,  a  Delegate,  etc.  etc.  etc.,  was 
he?"  "Yes."  Well,  the  duties  of  the  Italian  state  had  lately 
been  changed  so  favorably  to  the  commerce  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  port  regulations  so  mitigated,  that  the  prince 


THE  FOURTH    DECADE.  109 

was  anxious  to  communicate  intelligence  thereof  to  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  but  he  regretted  that  his  Highness 
had  no  diplomatic  correspondence  or  intercourse  with  Washing 
ton,  and  would  the  Hon.  White,  thus  opportunely  passing 
through  his  dominions,  take  dispatches  to  his  Excellency 
General  Jackson,  the  President  of  the  United  States? 

Certainly,  the  Hon.  Mr.  White  would  do  himself  that  honor, 
and  wait  on  the  prince  at  his  pleasure.  A  messenger  was 
called,  and  took  memoranda  of  orders  for  the  proper  dispatches. 
He  retired,  when  the  prince  seized  his  silver  bell,  and  ringing 
to  recall  the-messenger,  said  to  the  Hon.  Mr.  White,  "We  have 
not  inquired  in  what  language  the  dispatches  shall  be  written. 
Which  language,  the  Italian  or  French,  does  the  President  read 
or  understand  best  ?" 

The  President  read  or  understood  neither ;  and  with  true 
diplomatic  tact,  White  replied,  "  The  one  as  well  as  the  other, 
your  Highness."  The  dispatches  were  then  made  out  and 
given  with  many  gracious  thanks  to  the  bearer,  Mr.  White. 
Mr.  White  was  still  more  thankful  for  them.  He  was  then,  by 
accident,  a  diplomatic  bearer  of  good  news  to  General  Jackson, 
and  had  beaten  a  Caulaincourt  by  his  ready  safeguard  of  Gen 
eral  Jackson  as  a  linguist. 

If  Jackson  was  a  Napoleon,  he  would  be  made  an  envoy  for 
that  smart,  Machiavellian  answer. 

He  guarded  the  dispatches  of  the  prince  with  the  tenderest 
care,  and  when  he  got  to  Washington  City,  put  on  his  best 
European  costume,  and  waited  on  Old  Hickory.  He  told  his 
story  of  the  travel  and  summons  and  alarm  and  relief,  and  all 
went  smoothly  until  he  came  to  what  he  imagined  would  be 
"  la  creme  de  la  creme"  of  the  adventure  for  the  general. 
Without  lying,  he  had  not  admitted  that  the  President  did  not 
understand  any  but  his  own  mother  tongue  of  English,  and  had 
truthfully  conveyed  the  meaning  that  as  to  the  French  or  Italian 
he  understood  "the  one  as  well  as  the  other!" 

The  moment  this  was  uttered,  the  general  rose  in  his  wrath, 
and  let  the  Honorable  Mr.  White  know  "  that  he  did  not 
thank  him  for  any  such  liberty  with  his  name ;  he  had  sup- 


110  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

pressed  the  truth,  and  he  would  let  him  know  and  feel  that  he 
estimated  himself  as  highly  as  if  he  read  and  spoke  all  the 
barbarous  tongues.  His  name  and  character  needed  no  such 
bolster  of  deception !" 

This  was  what  the  court  circle,  who  saw  him  only  super 
ficially,  supposed  was  the  weakness  of  pride  and  vanity  and 
ignorance.  Not  so  :  he  was  going  to  prefer  Call,  and  this  was 
an  opportunity  to  make  a  pretext  for  cutting  White.  It  was 
cunning,  not  weakness ;  and,  after  White  left,  he  laughed  at  the 
opportunity  to  make  him  quit  courting  for  a  diplomatic  place. 
White  thought  it  was  weakness. 

But,  on  another  occasion,  his  ignorance  of  language  did  en 
tangle  him  in  a  ridiculous  mistake,  and  almost  in  a  scrape. 
During  his  administration,  whilst  Mr.  Louis  McLane,  of  Dela 
ware,  was  Secretary  of  State,  France  sent  a  certain  dashing 
minister  to  Washington,  a  young  man  just  elevated  above  the 
grade  of  charge",  whose  passion  was  display.  His  outfit  of 
equipage,  grooms,  postilions,  and  gold  lace  was  magnificent. 
He  called  on  the  Secretary  of  State  to  appoint  an  audience 
with  the  President ;  and  Mr.  McLane,  an  accomplished,  easy 
gentleman,  begged  him  to  call  the  next  morning  at  ten  o'clock 
at  the  State  office,  and  he  would  accompany  and  present  him 
to  the  President. 

Monsieur  le  Ministre  mistook  as  to  the  place  of  calling.  He 
thought  he  was  to  call  at  the  President's  mansion  at  ten  o'clock 
A.M.  Accordingly,  in  full  panoply  of  costume,  in  coach-and- 
four,  with  attendants,  grooms,  postilions,  outriders,  and  foot 
men,  at  the  hour  appointed  he  drove  up  to  the  front  door  of  the 
White  House,  instead  of  to  the  State  Department,  where  Mr. 
McLane  was  awaiting  his  arrival. 

At  that  time  the  President  was  served  by  a  French  cook, 
and  the  celebrated  Irishman,  Jemmy  O'Neal,  was  General 
Jackson's  petted  major-domo.  The  hour  was  about  the  time 
of  General  Jackson's  finishing  puff  of  the  pipe  after  breakfast, 
and  he  smoked,  as  he  did  everything  else,  with  all  his  might ! 
His  mode  was  no  Latakia  curl,  no  dreamy,  thready  line, 
from  barely-opened  lips;  but  a  full  drawing  and  expanding 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  Ill 

volume  of  white  cloud,  rising  up  whiff  after  whiff,-  puff  after 
puff,  and  bowl  and  stem  and  pipe  all  smoked  as  hard  and  fast 
as  they  could,  and  the  fire  was  red  and  the  ashes  hot,  and 
the  whole  room  was  so  obfuscated  that  one  could  hardly  breathe 
its  atmosphere  or  see.  His  usual  mode  of  sitting  while  smok 
ing  was  with  his  left  leg  thrown  across  the  right,  and  the  left 
toe  brought  behind  the  right  tendo-Achillis,  and  the  long  pipe- 
stem  resting  in  the  fork  or  crotch  of  the  two  knees,  and  reach 
ing  nearly  to  the  floor.  He  smoked  the  old  Powhatan  bowl, 
with  reed  stem  very  long.  In  this  attitude  he  was  sitting 
and  smoking,  whilst  Mr.  McLane  was  waiting  at  the  State 
office  for  Mr.  Minister,  and  whilst  Mr.  Minister  was  riding  up 
to  the  presidential  mansion.  He  arrived, — the  French  cook  in 
the  kitchen,  Jemmy  O'Neal  about  his  business,  and  General 
Jackson  alone  in  his  office.  A  bustle  was  made,  bells  began  to 
ring,  Jemmy  was  summoned  to  the  door,  and  there  presented 
itself  all  this  parade.  The  divil  a  word  could  Jemmy  under 
stand,  and  the  best  he  could  do  was  to  run  up-stairs  to  the 
general  and  announce  somebody  very  grand ;  but  Jemmy 
winked  that  all  didn't  seem  right,  as  there  seemed  too  much 
fuss  for  that  soon  in  the  morning,  and  it  might  be,  after  all, 
an  imposition  : — "  Och,  there  was  no  telling  about  the  thing, 
it  was  so  unusual  I"  It  might  turn  out  what  afterwards  oc 
curred, — a  Lawrence  affair!  The  general  quietly  replied,  "Oh, 
Jemmy,  show  the  stranger  up, — we  will  see  who  it  is."  Jemmy 
ran,  and  Jackson  sat  smoking,  when  presently  the  room-door 
was  thrown  wide  open,  and  a  manikin  of  gold-lace  entered, 
cocked  hat,  with  bullion  and  white  feather,  flourished  in  hand, 
making  a  salaam  to  the  right  and  a  salaam  to  the  left  with 
tremendous  sweeps,  whizzing  and  whirring  French  with  vehe 
ment  gesture,  and  approaching  nearer  and  nearer ;  it  seemed 
threatening  in  the  extreme  I 

The  President  quit  smoking,  beat  the  bowl  of  his  pipe  in  his 
hand,  rose  quickly,  took  hold  of  the  back  of  his  chair,  and 
exclaimed,  with  strong  voice,  "By  the  eternal  gods,  Jemmy 
O'Neal,  who  is  this  ?» 

Jemmy,  with  eyes  and  ears  open,  and  hands  ready,   was 


112  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

araazedly  looking  on,  when,  fortunately,  he  bethought  him  of 
the  French  cook,  and  ran  for  him.  There  was  no  time  tc  be 
lost :  so  the  French  cook,  with  his  shirt-sleeves  rolled  up  to 
his  shoulders,  and  just  as  he  was,  besprinkled  white  with  flour, 
ran  up  with  Jemmy,  arriving  just  in  time  to  save  Mr.  Minister's 
pate  from  being  smashed  by  the  chair  in  General  Jackson's  hands. 

"Mon  Dieu!"  exclaimed  the  cook:  "it  is  the  grand  minister 
of  Louis  Philippe  !" 

"  Oh  !"  said  the  general :  "  walk  in,  sir;  there  is  no  ceremony 
here!"  And  he  was  about  taking  the  niinister  by  both  hands 
just  as  Mr.  McLane  entered  to  see  the  mistake,  to  witness  the 
prevention  of  the  catastrophe,  and  to  enjoy  the  joke,  which  made 
him  a  thousand  times  afterwards  "shake"  with  jollity  "like  a 
bowlful  of  jelly." 

But  we  are  anticipating  events  by  painting,  perhaps  out  of 
place,  the  private  characteristics  and  traits  of  a  very  great  man, 
whose  name  belongs  only  incidentally  to  this  memoir  of  one  of 
his  successors.  General  Jackson  was  elected  President  in  the 
fall  of  1828.  His  domestic  life  had  been  scanned  and  scourged, 
and  his  beloved  and  honored  wife  had  been  most  malignantly 
reviled  and  tortured,  by  the  forked  tongues  of  his  political  oppo 
nents.  She  was  happy  in  his  love,  and  never  aspired  to  the 
splendor  of  his  fortune  in  life.  She  had  fled  to  his  manhood  for 
protection  and  peace,  and  had  been  sheltered  and  saved  by  his 
gallant  championship  of  the  cause  of  woman.  He,  and  he  alone, 
was  her  all,  and  of  him  it  may  be  truly  said  that,  in  respect  to 
"  wassail,  wine,  and  woman,"  he  was  one  of  the  purest  men  of 
his  day,  and  that,  too,  in  an  age  of  rude  habits  and  vulgar  dis 
sipation  among  the  rough  settlers  of  the  West.  He  was  tem 
perate  in  drink,  abstemious  in  diet,  simple  in  tastes,  polished  in 
manners,  except  when  roused,  and  always  preferred  the  society 
of  ladies,  with  the  most  romantic,  pure,  and  poetic  devotion. 
He  was  never  accused  of  indulging  in  any  of  the  grosser  vices, 
except  that  in  early  life  he  swore,  horse-raced,  and  attended 
cock-fights.  As  for  the  wife  of  his  bosom,  she  was  a  woman  of 
spotless  character,  and  an  unassuming,  consistent  Christian: 
yet  political  rancor  bitterly  assailed  her,  and,  not  content  with 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  113 

defamation,  endeavored  to  belittle  her  by  the  contemptuous 
appellation  of  "Aunt  Rachel,"  and  held  her  up  to  ridicule  for 
"smoking  a  corn-cob  pipe."  She  did  prefer  that  form,  not  for 
the  pleasure  of  smoking,  but  because  a  pipe  was  prescribed  by 
her  physician  for  her  phthisis  ;  and  she  often  rose  in  the  night 
to  smoke  for  relief.  In  a  night  of  December,  1828,  she  rose  to 
smoke,  and  caught  cold  whilst  sitting  in  her  nightclothes  ;  and 
the  story  is  that  her  system  had  been  shocked  by  her  over 
hearing  reproaches  of  herself  whilst  waiting  in  a  parlor  at  the 
Nashville  Inn.  She  had  said  to  a  friend,  upon  the  election  of 
her  husband,  "  For  Mr.  Jackson's  sake,  I  am  glad  ;  for  my  own 
part,  I  never  wished  it.  I  assure  you  I  had  rather  be  a  door 
keeper  in  the  house  of  my  God  than  to  live  in  that  palace  in 
Washington."  She  was  not  allowed  to  live  "  in  that  palace 
in  Washington."  Before  the  day  of  her  husband's  inauguration 
at  the  White  House  she  was  taken  by  her  God  to  that  "  house 
not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens." 

The  23d  of  December  was  the  anniversary  of  General  Jack 
son's  greatest  strategy  in  war.  He  had  without  means  made 
preparations  for  the  defense  of  New  Orleans.  He  had  arrested 
suspected  persons  by  a  strong  arm  ;  he  had  roused  the  populace 
of  the  city,  of  all  races  and  colors,  to  seize  arms  for  defense  ; 
he  had  seized  cotton  bales  to  make  him  a  line  of  impenetrable 
ramparts  from  river  to  lagoon  for  miles ;  he  had  manned  gun 
boats  to  co-operate  with  the  land  forces ;  he  had  done  wonders 
in  making  strongholds  out  of  nothing  for  the  last  ditches  of 
defense ;  but  the  coup  de  main  was,  after  making  his  last 
hold  as  strong  as  he  could,  in  leaving  his  intrenchments  to 
attack  the  invading  foe  in  full  force  at  night,  with  a  handful  of 
men,  under  Coffee  and  Carroll,  on  the  night  of  the  23d  of  De 
cember,  and  striking  the  enemy  so  hard  a  blow  full  in  the  face  that 
he  was  staggered  and  made  to  hesitate  and  pause,  giving  Jack 
son  sixteen  days'  time  to  recruit  his  forces  and  strengthen  still 
more  his  defenses.  Had  the  enemy  marched  directly  upon 
New  Orleans  on  the  23d  or  24th  of  December,  the  "  beauty 
and  booty"  of  the  city  would  have  fallen  a  prey  to  his  lust 
and  rapine.  But  Jackson  pursued  his  "policy  of  rashness," 


114  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

struck  unexpected  and  unseen,  saved  the  city,  and  won  im 
mortal  laurels. 

This,  the  23d  of  December,  1814,  not  the  8th  of  January, 
1815,  he  counted  his  day  of  victory.  Strategy  was  the  success 
ful  forerunner  of  courage  and  force. 

Preparations  were  being  made  in  Nashville  to  give  him  and 
his  lady  a  grand  reception  and  celebration  of  the  anniversary 
of  this  his  lucky  day,  and  all  eyes  were  bent  towards  the  Her 
mitage  to  see  the  conquering  hero,  the  then  President,  come, 
with  his  cherished  wife  at  his  side,  when,  lo  !  a  messenger  on 
"  the  White  Horse"  was  seen,  riding  fast,  to  announce  that  his 
partner  was — dead.  She  was  no  longer  the  afflicted,  deserted 
one,  whom  he  had  championed  and  married  and  lived  with  in 
holy  and  lawful  wedlock.  She  was  no  longer  his  angel  bosom 
partner  ;  she  was  no  longer  a  target  for  this  world's  fiery  darts 
of  detraction, — she  was  a  saint.  The  day's  gladness  was  turned 
to  earthly  mourning,  and  the  day  of  the  funeral  came  instead 
of  the  day  of  feasting. 

.  Dr.  Heiskel,  of  Winchester,  Virginia,  was  just  starting  as  a 
young  physician  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Hermitage,  and 
was  the  first  to  minister  to  her  relief,  and  attended  until  two 
eminent  physicians  were  called  in  from  Nashville.  From  him 
we  learned  that  she  had  caught  cold,  and  pleuritic  symptoms 
supervened  upon  her  constitutional  nervous  affections.  She 
was  sitting  smoking  her  corn-cob  pipe  when  she  caught  her 
last  malady. 

The  day  of  burial  came,  and  we  witnessed  the  solemn  scene. 
This  we  can  confidently  testify,  that  more  sincere  homage  was 
done  to  her  dead  than  was  ever  done  to  any  woman  in  our  day 
and  country  living.  Thousands  from  the  city  and  from  all 
the  country  around  flocked  to  her  funeral.  The  poor  white 
people,  the  slaves  of  the  Hermitage  and  adjoining  plantations, 
and  the  neighbors,  crowded  off  the  gentry  of  town  and  coun 
try,  and  filled  the  large  garden  in  which  the  interment  took 
place.  She  had  been  a  Hannah  and  Dorcas  to  every  needy 
household.  She  had  been  more  than  mistress,  a  mother  to  her 
servants  and  dependents ;  and  the  richest  and  best  were  proud 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  115 

of  the  privilege  of  her  sincere  and  simple  friendship.  She  was, 
without  question,  loved  and  honored  by  high  and  low,  white  and 
black,  bond  and  free,  rich  and  poor,  and  that  love  was  so  unaffect 
edly  expressed  by  a  wail  so  loud  and  long  that  there  was  no 
mistaking  its  grief  for  the  loss,  not  of  the  departed  one,  but  of 
the  living  left  behind  her.  From  that  same  door  of  the  northeast 
room  of  the  house  near  which  the  happy  bridal  party  sat  but 
a  few  months  before,  her  coffin  was  borne  to  the  grave  dug  in 
the  garden  for  her  remains. 

Following  the  pall-bearers  came  General  Jackson,  with  his 
left  hand  in  the  arm  of  General  Carroll,  holding  his  cane  in  his 
right  hand,  not  grasping  it  with  the  hand  over  the  head,  nor 
with  the  thumb  up,  but  with  the  back  of  the  hand  up  and  hold 
ing  the  point  of  the  cane  forward  as  he  would  have  held  a 
sword,  and  where-  he  stopped  at  the  pile  of  clay  its  point  rested 
on  the  clods.  Weeping  and  mourning  were  heard  on  every 
side ;  but  at  that  moment  of  his  coming  up  to  that  clod  portal 
of  clay  a  favorite  old  servant  of  Mrs.  Jackson  burst  through 
the  group  around  the  pit  and  tried  to  get  into  the  grave  with 
the  coffin.  She  was  about  sixty  years  of  age,  but  robust  and 
strong,  and,  falling  near  the  brink,  got  both  feet  over  the  edge 
of  the  grave,  when  the  sexton  and  others  took  hold  of  her  and 
prevented  her  descending,  and  were  trying  to  raise  her  up  and 
remove  her.  Her  cries  were  agonizing :  "  My  mistress,  my 
best  friend,  my  love,  my  life,  is  gone, — I  will  go  with  her!" 

This  was  but  a  moment;  but,  close  to  General  Jackson,  we 
watched  him  intently.  Every  muscle  of  his  face  was  unmoved  ; 
steady  as  a  rock,  without  a  teardrop  in  his  eye»or  a  quaver 
in  his  voice,  he  quickly  raised  the  point  of  his  cane  and 
said,  "  Let  that  faithful  servant  weep  for  her  best  friend  and 
loved  mistress ;  she  has  the  right  and  cause  to  mourn  for  her 
loss,  and  her  grief  is  sweet  to  me."  The  persons  who  had  hold 
of  her  immediately  released  her,  and  left  her  sitting  over  the  fresh 
clods,  weeping  ;  and  there  she  remained,  hindering  the  burial, 
until  after  awhile  some  of  her  friends  persuaded  her  to  leave 
the  side  of  the  grave  and  let  the  ceremony  go  on.  The  body 
was  let  down,  "  dust  to  dust"  was  said,  the  grave  was  filled  up 


116  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

and  shaped  into  the  common  mound  which  covers  poor  mor 
tality,  and  General  Jackson  was  led  away  by  General  Oar- 
roll  back  to  the  northeast  room.  The  crowd  followed,  and  we 
got  in  near  to  the  chief  mourner.  Arriving  fairly  into  the  room, 
and  pausing  a  few  moments,  he  looked  around  him,  and,  raising 
his  voice,  said, — 

"  Friends  and  neighbors,  I  thank  you  for  the  honor  you  have 
done  to  the  sainted  one  whose  remains  now  repose  in  yonder 
grave.  She  is  now  in  the  bliss  of  heaven,  and  I  know  that  she 
can  suffer  here  no  more  on  earth.  That  is  enough  for  my  con 
solation  ;  my  loss  is  her  gain.  But  I  am  left  without  her  to 
encounter  the  trials  of  life  alone.  I  am  now  the  President  elect 
of  the  United  States,  and  in  a  short  time  must  take  my  way  to 
the  metropolis  of  my  country ;  and,  if  it  had  been  God's  will,  I 
would  have  been  grateful  for  the  privilege  of  taking  her  to  my 
post  of  honor  and  seating  her  by  my  side;  but  Providence  knew 
what  was  best  for  her.  For  myself,  I  bow  to  God's  will,  and 
go  alone  to  the  place  of  new  and  arduous  duties,  and  1  shall 
not  go  without  friends  to  reward,  and  I  pray  God  that  I  may 
not  be  allowed  to  have  enemies  to  punish.  I  can  forgive  all 
who  have  wronged  me,  but  will  have  fervently  to  pray  that  I 
may  have  grace  to  enable  me  to  forget  or  forgive  any  enemy 
who  has  ever  maligned  that  blessed  one  who  is  now  safe  from 
all  suffering  and  sorrow,  whom  they  tried  to  put  to  shame  for 
my  sake  1" 

This  was  uttered  calmly,  firmly,  mournfully,  and  in  such 
deep  silence  of  the  crowd  that  it  was  audible  and  distinct  to 
every  one  in  the  room.  We  can  never  forget  it.  Could  he  ? 
The  answer  to  the  question  illustrates  his  leading  trait  of  the 
policy  of  pugnacity. 

In  due  time  he  went  to  Washington  City,  and  was  inau 
gurated  President  of  the  United  States.  He  took  up  his  abode 
in  the  White  House.  His  bed  was  placed  in  the  appropriate 
chamber.  Prominent  on  the  walls  of  that  chamber,  right 
opposite  the  pillow  of  the  bed,  was  hung  a  picture  of  his  wife, — 
placed  there,  as  he  himself  said,  so  that  it  might  be  the  first 
object  to  meet  his  eye  when  his  lids  opened  in  the  morning, 


THE  FOURTH  DECADE.  117 

and  the  last  for  his  gaze  to  leave  when  they  closed  in  sleep  at 
night. 

And  yet,  soon  after  he  was  a  lodger  there,  that  room  was 
the  scene  of  his  private  conferences  at  night,  in  which  Amos 
Kendall  was  his  chief  scribe  and  amanuensis,  to  write  the  broad 
side  editorials  of  the  Globe  under  his  dictation  and  instruction, 
but  not  with  his  diction.  He  was  a  better  thinker  than  his 
scribe,  his  scribe  a  better  writer  than  he.  He  would  lie  down 
and  smoke  and  dictate  his  ideas  as  well  as  he  could  express 
them,  and  Amos  Kendall  would  write  a  paragraph  and  read  it. 
That  was  not  the  thing ;  many  times  the  scribe  would  write 
and  rewrite  again  and  again,  and  fail  to  "fetch  a  compass"  of 
the  meaning.  At  last,  by  alteration  and  correction,  getting 
nearer  and  nearer  to  it,  he  would  see  it,  and  be  himself  aston 
ished  at  its  masterly  power.  General  Jackson  needed  such  an 
amanuensis,  intelligent,  learned,  industrious  as  Mr.  Kendall 
was.  He  could  think,  but  could  not  write ;  he  knew  what 
nerve  to  touch,  but  he  was  no  surgeon  skilled  in  the  instrument 
of  dissection.  Kendall  was.  But  how  came  Amos  Kendall 
there,  in  General  Jackson's  sanctum,  where  his  saint's  picture 
hung !  She  had  been  most  maligned  by  Amos  Kendall,  the 
editor  of  Clay's  leading  journal  in  Kentucky,  during  the  can 
vass.  Kendall  had  called  her  "Aunt  Rachel  with  the  corn-cob 
pipe,"  and  had  exaggerated  Robard's  wrongs  and  Rachel's 
failings  in  every  term  of  reproach  and  ridicule.  There  was  the 
chief  enemy  who  had  maligned  her,  there  hung  the  picture  of 
the  wounded  saint,  and  there  was  the  husband  avenger  who 
volunteered  a  vow  at  her  grave!  This  was  mighty  strange ! 
Not  so,  however,  to  those  who  knew  General  Jackson  well.  No 
man  was  cooler  in  his  calculations  than  he  was.  He  would 
sometimes  seem  to  fight  most  rashly,  but  no  one  ever  knew  him 
to  fight  at  all  unless  there  was  a  stake  up  worth  fighting  for. 

Kendall  had  been  a  poor  Yankee  schoolmaster,  and  was  a 
protege  of  Mr.  Clay.  He  had  been  but  a  hireling,  and  was  but 
a  pen  for  the  political  malice  of  Mr.  Clay's  party. 

What  had  he  (President  Jackson)  to  gain  by  fighting  the 
pen,  the  mere  amanuensis,  when  his  aim  was  to  slay  the 


118  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

prompter  of  all  his  wrongs  ?  Kendall,  for  cause,  left  the  fallen 
house  of  Clay,  and  fled  to  the  rock  of  power  and  strength.  He 
knew  much,  could  reveal  much,  could  deliver  up  all  the  enemy's 
armory.  He  was  indefatigable,  unscrupulous,  and  able.  He  was 
the  very  weapon  for  a  pugnacious  patron  to  use,  and  could  surest 
strike  the  arch-enemy, — he  had  been  the  arch  enemy's  own. 

General  Jackson  then  could  throw  away  prejudice,  passion, 
vengeance  itself,  and  vows,  and  coolly  take  Amos  to  that  cham 
ber,  in  presence  of  that  picture,  though  he  had  applied  the 
"scavenger's  daughter"  of  torture  to  "Aunt  Rachel!"  Amos 
Kendall  was  his  man,  and  he  could  and  did  use  him  with  tre 
mendous  effect  to  destroy  his  first  patron,  Mr.  Clay. 

Such  was  General  Jackson,  the  man  with  whom  Mr.  Tyler 
and  his  compeers  had  to  deal  at  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Tyler's 
career  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  No  two  men  were 
ever  more  unlike  than  Mr.  Tyler  and  General  Jackson.  They 
were  bred  in  totally  different  scenes  and  schools  in  life :  the 
one  a  child  of  gentle  people  and  brought  up  in  ease,  the  other 
a  poor  boy  of  humble  Irish  extraction,  orphaned  and  exiled  by 
war  and  poverty  to  build  his  own  fortunes  in  the  western  wilds 
of  Tennessee  ;  the  one  taught  and  trained  by  the  best  of  teachers 
and  books,  the  other  a  Hercules  of  action,  without  learning,  ex 
cept  that  which  was  self-taught;  the  one  winning  the  stakes  of 
life  by  gentleness  and  grace,  the  other  taking  them  by  main 
force  and  commanding  success  by  seizing  the  prize  he  sought ; 
the  one  a  civilian  and  orator,  the  other  a  warrior  always  in  the 
camp  of  life,  a  leader  of  men,  and  in  every  sense  a  tremendous 
actor.  Mr.  Tyler  had  touched  him  sorely  in  the  tender  point 
of  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister,  and  he  remembered  what  he 
deemed  an  unkinduess,  and  he  showed  no  good  opinion  of,  or 
favor  to,  any  one  who  had  censured  his  course  in  that  affair. 
Finding  that  Mr.  Calhoun  had  censured  him  in  the  Cabinet  of 
Mr.  Monroe,  he  separated  from  him,  though  they  were  elected 
on  the  same  ticket  in  1828.  Thus  Mr.  Calhoun's  friends,  among 
whom  was  Mr.  Tyler,  were  soon  made  to  stand  aloof  from  Gen 
eral  Jackson  ;  though  in  the  main,  as  on  the  Maysville  road 
bill,  the  States  Rights  party  still  maintained  some  of  the  lead 
ing  measures  of  the  administration. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   FIFTH   DECADE,    FROM    183O   TO   184O. 

Debates  from  1831  to  1832— The  Tariff  of  1828  for  Protection— The  Compro 
mise — Mr.  Clay  the  Great  Pacificator — South  Carolina  Ordinances  and  Force 
Bill— Mr.  Tyler  the  real  and  only  Peace- Maker— The  Presidential  Election 
of  1832— Democracy  divided— Mr.  Van  Buren  the  Favorite — The  Names  of 
Factions — Mr.  Tyler's  Error  of  siding  with  Nullification — Difference  between 
it  and  the  Virginia  Doctrines  of  Mr.  Madison — The  Conservative  purpose 
and  end  of  a  Convention  of  the  States  for  Caaea  of  last  Resort. 

WE  left  Nashville  and  returned  to  Virginia  in  the  fall  of 
1830,  and  began  to  take  more  note  of  public  affairs,  and  more 
interest  in  public  men.  We  had  seen  and  scanned  the  Man  of 
Iron  Will,  but,  as  yet,  had  never  formed  the  personal  acquaint 
ance  of  Mr.  Tyler.  In  1831-32,  he  was  especially  able  on  the 
Turkish  mission  in  reply  to  Mr.  Livingston.  But  the  great 
question  of  that  session  of  the  Senate  was  upon  the  doctrine  of 
Protection,  raised  by  a  resolution  of  Mr.  Clay. 

The  contest  of  parties  upon  what  was  called  the  "  Bill  of 
Abominations"  of  1828,  renewed  and  continued  in  1832,  arrayed 
section  against  section  in  the  interminable  strife  between  Free 
Trade  and  Protection. 

The  North,  with  Webster  in  the  lead,  was  at  first  for  Free 
Trade ;  Boston  was  opposed  to  the  Protection  policy.  But  in 
a  short  time  the  New  England  and  other  Northern  States  in 
vested  in  manufactures,  and  their  "  sweet  voices"  for  Free 
Trade  were  suddenly  changed.  The  Southern  States  were  the 
raw  producers  of  the  main  staples  for  export,  and  their  theory 
was  that  the  consumers  of  imports  paid  the  bounties  of  Pro 
tection. 

After  the  contest  had  become  embittered,  and  whilst  sore  and 
festering,  Mr.  Clay  came  forward  with  his  resolutions  distin- 

(119) 


120  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

guishing  between  articles  manufactured  within  and  those  man 
ufactured  without  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  Articles  not 
manufactured  in  the  United  States,  except  silks  and  wines,  were 
to  be  duty-free,  and  this,  of  course,  increased  the  duties  upon 
articles  in  the  country  to  the  point  of  protection,  and  in  many 
cases  to  the  point  of  prohibition.  The  North  had  all  the  ship 
ping,  all  the  profits  on  ship-building,  rigging,  and  victualing, 
and  all  the  profits  of  freights  and  bottomry.  This,  in  effect, 
was  indirectly  a  tax  upon  exports  and  upon  producers  of  exports 
in  the  South ;  and  now  it  was  proposed  to  compel  that  section 
to  use  inferior  domestic  manufactures,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
pay  the  equivalent  of  heavy  imposts  on  their  consumption  to 
this  monopoly  of  home  manufactures. 

Mr.  Tyler  met  this  issue  with  marked  ability;  his  effort  was 
more  than  argument,  it  was  prophecy,  and  an  eloquence  which 
implored  like  the  warnings  of  a  seer  against  the  sowing  of  this 
dragon's  tooth,  to  sprout  armed  warriors  against  the  peace, 
union,  and  liberties  of  the  country.  It  was  a  dragon's  tooth, 
which  caused  the  South  Carolina  Ordinances  of  Nullification, 
which  called  for  the  Proclamation  of  Force.  In  1832  the  dan 
ger  was  imminent  of  armed  resistance,  when  Congress  put  into 
General  Jackson's  hands  the  power  of  military  coercion.  It 
was  then  that  Mr.  Clay  assumed  the  attitude  of  the  Great  Pa 
cificator.  After  doing  more  than  any  other  man  to  raise  the 
storm,  and  hazarding  civil  war  for  Protection  as  a  part,  and 
major  part,  of  his  American  system,  he  had  the  Machiavelian 
tact  to  claim  the  blessing  and  the  praises  due  to  the  peace 
maker.  Mr.  Tyler  alone  had  the  honor  of  voting  against  the 
Force  Bill,  while  Mr.  Clay,  who  raised  the  demon,  got  the  credit 
of  exorcising  him.  He  would  have  pressed  Protection  to  a 
conflict  of  arms,  but  that  he  knew  that  Jackson,  his  worst  enemy, 
would  win  all  the  popularity  of  preserving  peace.  He  there 
fore  made  peace  by  a  compromise  of  legislation,  graduating  a 
reduction  of  duties  by  a  fixed  scale,  and  a  set  time,  and  by 
classifying  the  articles  subject  to  impost. 

The  presidential  election  of  1832  came  in  the  wake  of  Nul 
lification  and  the  Force  Bill.  And  by  this  time,  the  begin- 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  121 

ning  of  the  second  term  of  General  Jackson's  administration, 
the  Democratic  party  had  split  into  factions,  and  was  divided 
against  itself.  Mr.  Yan  Buren  had  won  the  favor  of  the  hero, 
just  as  the  jackal  wins  the  good  will  of  the  lion.  He  was 
called  the  "Mistletoe  politician,  nourished  by  the  sap  of  the 
hickory-tree."  He  had  bred  strife  between  General  Jackson 
and  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  was  Vice-President  during  the  first  term 
of  the  administration.  He  had  wielded  the  influence  of  what  was 
called  the  "  Kitchen  Cabinet"  and  the  "  Petticoat  Pet,"  and 
was  nominated  for  the  Vice-Presidency  in  1832  by  the  National 
Convention,  though  the  Democracy  of  Virginia  voted  for  Philip 
P.  Barbour. 

At  this  time  the  Democracy  became  divided  into  —  first, 
the  Van  Buren  faction,  called  the  "  Locofoco"  party,  whose 
motto  was,  "  To  the  victors  belong  the  spoils ;"  secondly,  the 
Calhoun  faction,  the  Nullifiers;  and  thirdly,  a  portion  of  the 
old  Madisonian  Democracy,  who  opposed  both  Locofocoism 
and  Nullification  ;  and  the  opposition  to  the  second  term  of 
Jackson's  administration  soon  consisted  of — first,  the  National 
Republicans  of  the  Clay  and  Adams  party;  secondly,  the  Nul 
lifiers  ;  and  thirdly,  that  portion  of  the  Democracy  called  the 
"  Awkward  Squad,"  which  was  opposed  to  Nullification,  but 
which  opposed  Locofocoism  also,  and  was  disaffected  to  the 
administration  by  the  removal  of  the  public  deposits  from  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States. 

It  was  out  of  these  elements  that  the  "  Whig  party"  was 
formed  in  1839-40.  They  could  not  unite  in  1836. 

But  the  issues  raised  by  South  Carolina  on  the  tariff  of  1828 
and  her  position  in  1832  presented  the  dangers  of  civil  war  in 
the  conflict  of  Nullification  and  the  Force  Bill. 

Mr.  Tyler  sided  with  Nullification,  and  voted  alone  against 
the  Force  Bill,  whilst  Virginia  opposed  both.  That  issue  brought 
us  into  Congress  in  1833.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  we  formed 
the  personal  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Tyler. 

On  the  doctrine  of  Nullification  we  differed.  We  considered 
it  a  gross  departure  from  the  true  faith  of  State  Rights,  and  as 
tending  to  crush  them  and  to  bring  strict  construction  of  the 


122  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

Constitution  into  discredit.  We  lived  in  the  same  congressional 
district,  and  we  found  him  and  Upshur,  Parker  and  Coke,  and 
every  leading  politician  on  both  shores  of  the  Chesapeake,  es 
pousing  the  new  faith.  We  were  thrown  into  the  breach  and 
elected  to  Congress. 

Taking  sides  with  Nullification  was  the  leading  error  of  Mr. 
Tyler's  life.  In  this  he  departed  from  the  true  State  Rights 
faith  of  Virginia,  of  which  Mr.  Madison  was  the  exponent, 
not  in  going  towards  the  extremes  of  Federalism,  but  in  fol 
lowing  the  lead  of  the  South  Carolina  school  of  State  Rights 
and  remedies,  on  the  opposite  extreme,  equally  destructive  of 
all  rights  and  all  remedies. 

Nullification,  as  promulged  and  attempted  to  be  enforced 
by  South  Carolina,  is  a  very  different  doctrine  or  faith  from 
that  taught  by  Mr.  Madison  and  the  Virginia  Legislature  from 
1798  to  the  triumph  of  the  principles  of  Virginia  in  1801. 

In  the  first  place,  the  category  of  cases  in  which  Mr.  Madison 
applied  the  doctrine  of  State  Rights  and  remedies  was  far  differ 
ent  from  the  class  of  cases  involving  any  question  like  that  of 
a  protective  tariff.  He  applied  it  to  such  cases  as  those  of  the 
Alien  and  Sedition  laws,  involving  fundamental  principles  of 
republican  freedom, — the  primary  and  essential  natural  rights 
of  man,  such  as  the  right  of  residence  and  freedom  of  speech 
and  of  the  press.  The  ordinances  of  Nullification  were  applied 
to  questions  of  mere  political  expediency.  Whether  a  denizen 
might  reside  unmolested  in  the  country  as  long  as  he  observed 
the  laws,  or  a  citizen  might  write  or  speak  and  publish  freely, 
without  incurring  the  penalties  of  sedition,  were  very  different 
subjects  of  legislation  from  that  of  whether,  under  the  general 
power  to  regulate  commerce  between  the  several  States  and 
with  foreign  nations,  Congress  might  lay  a  tariff  of  duties, 
excises,  and  imposts  in  such  a  way  as  to  yield  protection  as 
well  as  revenue.  It  is  the  plain  distinction  between  cases  in 
volving  rights  which  are  inviolable,  inalienable,  and  universal, 
and  those  which,  in  the  sense  of  expediency,  may  exist  or  not, 
or  vary  or  not,  according  to  policy,  or  compact,  or  convention. 
Mr.  Madison  applied  it  in  cases  of  last  resort  for  the  conserva- 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  123 

tion  of  inalienable  rights,  and  Mr.  Calhoun  applied  it  in  cases 
of  governmental  policy  and  expediency. 

But,  as  applicable  to  any  class  of  cases,  Mr.  Calhoun,  in  fact, 
changed,  and,  as  we  think,  essentially  perverted,  the  true  doc 
trine,  and  this  caused  it  to  be  misunderstood  and  misapplied, 
until  it  was  brought  into  disrepute  and  was  finally  overthrown, 
if  not  forever  destroyed. 

I. 

The  leading  fact,  not  theory,  on  which  State  Rights  are 
founded  is  this:  That  the  States,  by  the  Revolution  of  "16, 
became  free,  sovereign,  separate,  and  independent  States. 

II. 

That  the  Articles  of  Confederation  did  not  in  any  degree  or 
respect  change  or  in  the  least  impair  this  individuality  and 
sovereignty  of  the  States. 

III. 

That  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  to  which  the 
States  were  parties  and  of  which  they  were  the  creators,  did 
not  impair  the  original  and  separate  sovereignty  and  independ 
ence  of  the  States.  It  formed  only  "  a  more  perfect  Union"  of 
individual  States,  but  preserved  their  separate  identity.  The 
Union  was  a  union  of  individuals,  and  the  individuals  were 
States,  assuming  the  plural,  not  singular,  name  of  the  United 
States, — united  to  act,  to  certain  ends  and  for  defined  purposes, 
by  common  means  of  nationality,  but  not  merged  in  that  na 
tionality  ;  united,  but  not  consolidated,  within  the  bounds  of 
defined  limitations  of  power.  And  while  sovereignty  was 
original  in  the  States,  whatever  power  was  allowed  to  be 
exercised  by  the  Federal  government  was  derivative  only, — 
derived  from  the  States,  delegated  by  them  and  to  be  exercised 
for  them  equally,  according  to  their  joint  will  as  expressed  in 
their  written  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  State  power 
is  not  Federal  power  at  all;  but  all  Federal  power  is  Slate 


124  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

power,  delegated  by  them  and  for  them  as  their  joint  power, 
but  still  their  power,  to  be  used  for  their  union. 


IY. 

That  the  Constitution  or  covenant  of  Union  was  federative, 
founded  on  a  foedus  of  faith  to  and  with  States,  the  mutual 
contractors  to  act,  each  for  itself,  as  to  all  State  affairs,  and  to 
act  in  union  with  each  other  as  to  all  specified  and  delegated 
cases,  and  reserving  all  powers  not  granted;  each  State  being 
still  sovereign,  exercising  all  powers  not  granted  themselves, 
and  all  granted  powers  by  a  common  government  of  their  own 
creation. 

y. 

That  the  Federal  government  was  to  be  confined  in  its  opera 
tions  to  the  powers  granted  by  the  States,  as  its  creators,  and 
to  be  limited  by  special  prohibitions,  and  by  the  general  rule 
that  powers  not  granted  were  withheld  from  the  general  govern 
ment,  because  reserved  to  the  States. 


VI. 

That  in  deciding  all  issues,  whether  the  limitations  of  the 
grants  of  power  were  violated  either  by  the  common  Federal 
government  of  the  Union,  or  by  the  individual  States,  there 
was  and  could  be  but  one  common  arbiter ;  that  the  Federal 
government  could  not  decide,  in  cases  of  last  resort,  either  for 
itself  or  for  the  States,  and  much  less  could  any  department 
of  that  government  so  decide.  The  only  arbiter  was  a  conven 
tion  of  the  States.  If  that  was  not  allowed  peacefully  to  ad 
just  dissensions,  then  the  only  rule  was  the  ultima  ratio  of 
sovereigns.  Thus  far,  Nullification  concurred  in  the  tenets  of 
Mr.  Madison.  But  in  the  next  and  main  principle  of  State 
Bights  it  diverged  fatally  from  the  true  faith.  It  made  the 
States  irresponsible,  instead  of  being  judges  for  themselves  on 
their  individual  State  responsibility  to  each  other.  Thus : 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  125 

VII. 

That  in  the  last  resort  "each  State  for  itself  was  the  judge 
of  the  infraction  as  well  as  the  mode  and  measure  of  redress." 

Here  the  departure  from  the  true  faith  of  State  Rights  be 
gan.  Mr.  Madison  laid  down  the  rule  as  relative  only,  whilst 
Nullification  contended  that  it  was  absolute.  Mr.  Madison  an 
nounced  the  position  that  each  might  judge  for  itself,  but  not 
without  responsibility  to  each  and  all  of  the  other  States ;  that 
each  might  judge  for  itself  of  the  infraction,  but  that  resistance  to 
a  law  passed  within  the  constitutional  limitations  was  as  much 
an  infraction  as  was  the  passage  by  Congress  of  an  unconstitu 
tional  law,  and  that  each  might  judge  for  itself  of  the  mode 
and  measure  of  redress  ;  but  if  one  might  judge  that  resistance 
to  the  law  was  her  mode  and  measure  of  redress,  another  might 
judge  that  enforcement  of  the  law  was  her  mode  and  measure 
of  redressing  the  infraction  of,  or  punishing  resistance  to,  the 
law. 

VIII. 

The  laws  passed  in  pursuance  of,  or  in  accordance  with,  the 
Constitution  were  undoubtedly  the  supreme  laws  ;  but  whether 
passed  in  pursuance  or  in  violation  of  the  Constitution  was  a 
question  admitting  of  different  tribunals  for  decision,  according 
to  the  nature  of  the  question  and  characters  of  the  parties. 

In  cases  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  courts  of  the  United 
States,  between  citizens  and  persons,  or  States  and  States,  in 
volving  personal  or  corporate  municipal  rights,  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  was  confessedly  the  tribunal  of 
last  resort  as  to  parties  to  the  suits  in  court. 

Until  the  decision  was  made  in  such  cases,  between  such  par 
ties,  to  suits  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Federal  courts,  all 
parties  had  to  receive  and  act  upon  and  abide  by  the  Acts  of 
Congress  as  valid  ;  but  the  Supreme  Court  might,  in  such  cases, 
between  such  parties,  decide  that  they  were  invalid,  unconstitu 
tional,  and  void.  These  decisions  operated  civilly  in  personam 
and  in  rem,  but  not  on  political  issues. 


126  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

But  by  far  the  most  important  cases  at  issue  were  political 
cases,  and  not  cases  either  of  law  or  in  equity  for  the  courts. 
The  Supreme  Court  itself  had  at  the  very  beginning  eschewed 
the  power  of  deciding  who  politically  was  right  or  wrong.  At 
the  very  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  before  the 
Supreme  Court  had  taken  this  judicial  ground  for  the  sake  of 
the  Judicial  Department,  it  left  the  political  jurisdiction  to  the 
Legislative  and  Executive  Departments,  according  to  its  assign 
ment  and  distribution  by  the  Constitution,  to  be  controlled 
finally  by  the  elections  of  the  people,  or  by  the  conventional 
powers  of  the  States.  And  this  was  salutary  and  safe,  and 
practically  wise  and  good,  so  far  as  pertained  to  mere  municipal 
questions  affecting  persons  and  corporations  as  such.  But  it 
was  inadequate  and  without  power  either  in  the  case  where  the 
sovereign  bodies  politic,  the  States,  interposed  and  contested  the 
constitutionality  of  laws  affecting  their  political  rights,  or  where 
they  contested  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Supreme  Court  as  to  the 
political  issues  between  the  sovereign  parties  to  the  Federal 
compact,  affecting  the  compact  itself.  When  they  did  interpose, 
a  mere  municipal  department  of  the  Federal  government,  the 
Judiciary,  could  no  more  conclude  them  by  decision  than  Con 
gress,  another  mere  municipal  department,  could  conclude  to 
bind  them  by  legislation.  This  would  have  been  to  set  up  mere 
municipalities,  the  Judicial  and  Legislative  Departments  of  the 
Federal  government,  over  their  sovereigns  and  creators  the 
States  or  the  people,  the  sources  of  all  power. 

The  clause  which  declares  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  treaties  and  laws  of  the  United  States  made  in 
pursuance  thereof,  shall  be  the  supreme  law,  could  not  justly  be 
interpreted  to  have  any  other  than  a  municipal,  not  a  sovereign, 
sense  or  meaning:  that  they  were  to  be  supreme  within  the 
limitations  of  the  Constitution  was  to  be  decided  only  by  the 
conventional  powers  of  the  States.  It  would  have  been  absurd 
for  the  Constitution  to  forbid  the  Federal  government,  or  either 
or  all  of  its  departments,  to  violate  it,  and  then  to  give  to  the 
Federal  government  or  either  of  its  departments  the  power  to 
decide  whether  it  had  violated  the  Constitution  or  not,  for  that 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  121 

would  be  to  give  the  power  to  declare  its  violations  supreme, 
and  to  enforce  them  on  States  as  well  as  on  persons  and  prop 
erty,  without  regard  to  constitutional  limitations.  So  long  as 
the  cases  were  ordinary  cases,  of  no  vital  and  fundamental 
political  importance,  involving  only  municipal  rights  of  persons 
or  property,  the  laws  of  Congress  were  to  be  deemed  valid, 
until  decided  otherwise  by  the  Supreme  Court,  or  when  de 
cided  by  that  court  to  be  valid,  and  in  either  case  were  supreme. 
But  in  plain,  palpable  cases,  involving  gross  infractions  of  the 
Constitution,  and  sovereign  issues,  and  the  political  powers  of 
government  or  its  departments,  State  or  Federal,  in  cases  where 
the  States  were  in  conflict,  the  only  tribunal*was  that  of  a  con 
vention  of  the  States. 

This  doctrine  was  most  conservative  and  peaceful.  Nothing 
else  could  or  can  preserve  and  perpetuate  constitutional  fed 
eral  republicanism.  And  nothing  can  better  illustrate  this  than 
the  late  Confederate  war  with  the  United  States.  Could  it, 
would  it,  ever  have  begun,  and  raged  on  as  it  did  for  four 
years,  had  this  theory  of  political  philosophy  prevailed  and 
been  pursued?  If,  when  the  conflict  became  imminent,  Con 
gress,  instead  of  assuming  to  decide  political  and  fundamental 
and  sovereign  questions,  and  to  clothe  the  Executive  with  the 
power  of  proclaiming  war,  and  using  force  to  coerce  States  and 
their  people  to  submission,  had  construed  the  Constitution  as 
obliging  them,  mere  fiduciaries,  to  call  together  the  sovereign 
States  in  convention,  does  any  reflecting  man  suppose  that 
there  could  or  would  have  been  a  war  at  all  ? 

If  a  convention  of  the  States  had  been  obliged  to  be  called 
before  Congress  could  have  passed  another  Force  Bill,  and  before 
a  President  could  have  proclaimed  its  execution  by  arms,  the 
States  would  have  obeyed  the  dictates  of  patriotism,  peace,  and 
humanity  in  readjusting  dissensions,  and  reuniting  in  harmony 
of  action,  just  as,  amidst  the  same  sort  of  dissensions,  they 
were  at  first  united  by  the  wisdom  of  such  men  as  Wash 
ington,  Madison,  Edmund  Randolph,  Alexander  Hamilton, 
Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  Franklin,  and  their  compeers, 
in  1787-89. 


128  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

Assembling  tog-ether,  delay  and  deliberation,  debate  and  per 
sonal  attachment  and  private  influences,  postponement  of  un 
necessary  issues,  and  compromise  and  concession,  would  have 
infallibly  kept  the  peace,  and  saved  the  blood  and  the  treasure, 
the  honor  and  the  liberty,  of  the  Union  ! 

But  the  theory  of  consolidation  made  the  Federal  govern 
ment  supreme,  without  and  above  the  conventional  power  of 
the  States  ;  substituted  Federal  for  State  sovereignty;  converted 
the  two  words  "United  States"  into  the  one  word  "Congress," 
and  the  plural  word  States  into  the  word  Nation;  repelled  the 
idea  of  the  Union  of  States,  and  acted  upon  the  forbidden  idea 
of  a  numerical  majority  of  the  people.  Already  inflamed  by  the 
violent  interest  to  set  up  an  unwritten  higher  law  above  the 
limitations  of  the  Constitution ;  with  the  powers  of  mischief 
already  in  hand ;  with  but  a  fragment  of  State  and  popular 
representation  seated  in  the  Houses  of  Congress ;  acting  ex 
parte,  and  a  part  for  the  whole  ;  seizing  arms,  Congress  and 
the  Executive  rushed  into  the  war  suddenly,  without  delay, 
without  convention,  without  giving  the  people  time  to  delib 
erate,  against  the  protestation  of  some  of  the  original  thirteen 
States,  and  ravaged  the  country  by  war,  revolutionized  the 
whole  theory  of  republican  constitutional  freedom,  and  changed 
the  government  into  a  national,  congressional  oligarchy  and 
military  imperialism. 

But  the  chief  safeguard  of  the  Madisonian  doctrine  of  State 
sovereignty,  and  State  Rights  and  remedies,  under  our  sj^stem 
of  State  and  Federal  governments,  called  "compositive,"  with 
very  little  meaning,  by  Mr.  Wheaton,  was  the  protection  it 
afforded  and  insured  to  the  persons  and  individual  citizens  of 
the  people  against  the  despotic  dogmas  of  treason,  forfeiture, 
confiscation,  and  military  commissions,  according  to  the  com 
mon  law  ideas. 

In  case  a  convention  of  States  was  called,  as  a  political  tri 
bunal  of  last  peaceable  resort,  to  determine  questions  as  to  the 
compact,  and  failed  to  compose  the  conflicts  of  States  about 
what  the  Constitution  was  or  should  be  made,  then  each  State 
had  the  right  to  judge  for  herself  of  the  infraction,  and  of 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  129 

the  mode  and  measure  of  redress,  and  whether  she  would  re 
main  in  the  Union  as  made  or  construed  by  the  majority  of 
States,  or  secede  from  the  Union  and  resume  her  separate 
independence.  It  was  not  pretended  by  the  Virginia  school,  as 
we  have  said,  that  this  right  was  absolute,  but  only  that  it  was 
relative. 

Thus,  to  take  a  case  where  the  weaker  States  insisted  upon 
the  execution  of  a  law  passed  by  Congress,  as  the  Act  of  1793, 
to  enforce  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  requiring  the  rendi 
tion  of  all  fugitives  from  labor  from  one  State  to  another.  The 
same  rule  would  favor  Virginia  or  South  Carolina  in  recovering 
a  slave,  in  that  case,  as  would  favor  the  New  England  States  or 
Pennsylvania  in  enforcing  a  tariff  for  protection.  Resistance 
to  a  constitutional  law  by  a  State  was  as  much  an  infraction  of 
the  Constitution  as  the  passage  of  an  unconstitutional  act  by 
Congress.  The  Act  of  1793  was  decided  to  be  constitutional, 
and  universally  acquiesced  in  by  every  State  of  the  Union  for 
forty  years,  and  had  been  solemnly  asserted  as  valid  and 
binding  by  the  Constitution,  and  adjudicated  upon  by  the  judi 
ciaries  of  the  States,  as  well  as  by  the  Federal  courts  and 
judges.  At  last,  several  of  the  States,  Pennsylvania  among 
others,  attempted  to  prevent  or  obstruct  its  execution  within 
their  limits.  Good  faith  required  that  there  should  be  such  a 
law;  it  was  plainly  valid;  but  some  States  declared  that  there 
was  a  higher  law  which  forbade  them  to  aid  in  its  enforcement. 
They  went  further,  and  not  only  forbade  assistance  by  their 
citizens  or  officers  to  its  execution,  but  declared  certain  acts  of 
slave-owners  in  pursuit  of  their  rights  under  that  law  to  be 
feloniously  criminal,  and  bound  their  authorities  to  arrest, 
prosecute,  and  punish  them  for  attempting  to  take  their  fugi 
tive  slaves  under  the  Act  of  Congress.  They  left  the  United 
States  officers  and  agents,  judges  and  marshals,  alone,  without 
a  posse  to  execute  the  Act  of  Congress.  A  slave-owner  pur 
suing  his  fugitive  was  liable  to  illegal  arrest,  trial,  and  infa 
mous  punishment  for  doing  what  was  lawful  under  the  Consti 
tution  and  laws  of  the  United  States.  Instead  of  having  his 
lawful  property  restored  to  him,  he  was  liable  to  be  imprisoned 

9 


130  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

in  a  penitentiary.  This  was  nullification,  remaining  in  the 
Union  and  nullifying  its  laws.  The  Southern  States  contended 
that  the  Northern  States  could  not  nullify  the  laws  of  the  Union  ; 
that  if  Pennsylvania,  for  example,  judged  the  Act  of  Con 
gress  for  recovering  of  fugitives  from  labor  unconstitutional, 
and  passed  ordinances  forbidding  its  execution  within  her 
limits,  she  might  so  judge  and  act,  but  not  without  just  re 
sponsibility.  Her  judgment  and  action  alike  related  to  sister 
States  as  well  as  to  herself.  If  she  might  judge  the  law 
unconstitutional,  the  sister  States,  each  for  itself,  might  judge 
it  constitutional  ;  if  she  might  judge  the  act  to  be  an  infrac 
tion,  they,  under  the  same  rule,  might  judge  her  resistance  to 
it,  or  nullification  of  it,  to  be  an  infraction;  and  if  she  might 
judge  her  mode  and  measure  of  redress  to  be  by  nullification 
of  the  act,  they,  in  like  manner,  might  judge  their  mode  and 
measure  of  redress  to  be  by  enforcement  of  the  act. 

And  this  mode  of  enforcement  would  be  by  using  the  powers 
and  means  of  the  common  government  to  act  on  persons  resist 
ing  the  execution  of  the  law.  If  the  slaveholder,  pursuing 
his  fugitive  slave,  had  been  seized  and  imprisoned  under  the 
State  law,  he  would  have  applied  to  the  State  judges  for  a  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  ;  and  if  they  were  sworn,  as  in  South  Carolina, 
by  a  test  oath  not  to  execute  or  enforce  the  law  of  Congress, 
he  would  have  applied  for  the  writ  to  a  Federal  judge,  whose  duty 
it  was  to  issue  it  to  the  Federal  marshal ;  and  if  the  sheriff,  or 
the  executive  and  militia  of  the  State,  had  opposed  his  authority, 
and  he  could  not  execute  the  law,  he  would  so  have  certified  to 
the  Federal  judge,  and  he  in  turn  would  so  have  certified  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  who,  under  his  oath  to  see  that 
the  laws  were  faithfully  executed,  would  have  been  bound  to 
call  out  the  army  or  have  a  body  of  militia  to  execute  the  laws, 
but  as  auxiliary  only  to  the  civil  authority  of  the  Federal 
courts,  not  as  an  act  of  war.  And  the  same  rule  applied, 
e  converse,  against  South  Carolina  resisting  a  tariff,  as  it  did 
against  Pennsylvania  resisting  the  fugitive  slave  laws  of  the 
Union.  Thus  the  rule  was  relative,  and  not  absolute ;  and 
under  a  relative  rule  South  Carolina  essayed  to  nullify  laws 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  131 

absolutely  within  her  limits,  without  responsibility  to  her  co- 
States.  It  was  vain,  and  exposed  those  of  her  citizens,  who 
obeyed  her  ordinances  and  came  in  collision  with  Federal  au 
thority,  to  the  pains  and  penalties  of  treason.  But  Mr.  Madison 
avoided  that  error  of  construing  the  rule  of  State  Rights.  He 
pointed  to  the  remedy  of  secession  from  the  Union.  If  violations 
of  the  Constitution  were  palpable  and  gross,  if  oppression  and 
inequality  were  avowed  and  practiced,  if  good  faith  and  justice 
were  set  at  naught  by  even  a  convention  of  the  States,  each 
State  might  judge  for  herself  whether  she  would  abide  in  the 
Union  or  resume  her  separate  condition  as  a  State.  In  that  atti 
tude  of  State  sovereignty,  if  assailed  she  would  be  "  a  belliger 
ent,"  not  a  "  rebel ;"  her  citizens  would  be  "inimici  non  hostes," 
not  "hostes  non  inimici ;"  the  case  would  be  governed  by  the 
"jus  belli,"  absolute,  if  you  please,  but  the  citizens  would  be 
saved  from  the  treatment  of  traitors  ;  the  laws  of  war  only,  and 
not  of  treason,  would  apply.  The  act  of  the  State  would  be 
revolutionary,  but  the  revolution  would  be  one  of  a  conflict  of 
States,  not  a  conflict  of  citizens  or  subjects  with  government. 
The  State  would  be  responsible  to  the  States  remaining  in  the 
Union,  but  the  mere  municipal  Federal  government  would  be 
no  longer  the  common  agent,  and  she  would  be  free  from  its 
authority,  and  would  be  amenable  only  to  a  convention  of  the 
States,  though  a  convention  of  the  States  might  act  through 
the  Federal  government.  In  no  case  would  the  State  be  irre 
sponsible,  but  she  would  be  responsible  to  the  convention  of 
States,  not  to  the  Federal  Congress,  or  Executive,  or  Judiciary, 
or  all  combined. 

The  State  could  not  be  prosecuted  for  treason,  nor  could  Lei- 
citizens  ;  she  could  only  be  forced  by  the  other  States  to  submit 
to  their  equal  right  to  judge  of  infractions  and  of  the  mode  and 
measure  of  redress,  and  her  citizens  would  be  covered  by  her 
shield  of  sovereignty. 

This,  we  repeat,  called  forth  most  wisely  the  conventional 
power  of  States, — first,  to  judge  of  the  infraction  and  of  the  mode 
and  measure  of  redress  ;  and,  second,  and  at  last,  to  judge  as  to 
the  propriety  of  the  enforcement  or  repeal  of  the  act  resisted  or 


132  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

of  the  question  of  peace  or  war — of  winning  back  the  seceding 
State  with  amity  or  driving  her  into  submission  by  subjugation. 
The  true  theory  was  that  the  Federal  government,  in  such  a  case, 
could  interpose  no  further  than  to  call  a  convention  of  States, 
and  that  for  it  to  interpose  as  judge  and  executioner  of  a  State 
would  be  to  assume  at  once  and  forever  powers  wholly  incon 
sistent  with  the  limitations  of  the  Constitution  and  with  public 
law  and  liberty.  These  were  our  views  in  1832-33,  and  we 
regret  that  they  were  not  those  of  Mr.  Tyler.  He  sided  with 
Nullification.  The  members  of  the  Senate  in  opposition  to 
the  Force  Bill,  all  but  him,  left  their  seats  when  the  question 
was  taken  on  its  passage,  and  he,  therefore,  voted  alone  against 
it.  Though  in  error  as  to  the  theory,  he  was  right  as  to  the 
policy  of  not  voting  for  that  act ;  and  of  no  vote  of  his  was  he 
so  proud  as  of  that  vote,  to  the  last  hour  of  his  life. 

Thus  Nullification,  with  its  untenable  position  of  an  absolute 
rule  of  State  Rights,  afforded  General  Jackson  the  opportunity 
of  establishing  the  maxim,  "  The  Union  must  and  shall  be  pre 
served,"  and  of  appealing  to  Congress  for  the  law  of  force  to 
be  executed  by  the  Federal  Executive  to  coerce  a  State  into 
submission  to  the  acts  of  Congress  for  the  mere  collection  of 
duties  and  the  regulation  of  commerce.  He  had  always  been  a 
Democrat  of  the  Strict  Construction  school.  His  model  of  a 
statesman,  senator,  debater,  and  politician  had  always  been 
the  celebrated  William  B.  Giles,  of  Virginia,  whose  political 
faith  and  practice  would  have  guided  him  to  the  measure  of  a 
Force  Bill  by  Congress,  without  an  appeal  first  to  a  convention 
of  all  the  States ;  and  he  had  countenanced  Georgia  in  her 
barbarous  nullification  of  the  treaties  and  laws  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  cruel  execution  of  the  Indian,  Tassels,  against 
the  notice  of  the  Attorney-General  (Mr.  Wirt)  and  the  orders 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  in  her  lottery 
laws,  by  which  the  lands  of  the  Cherokees,  then  a  Christianized 
tribe,  which  had  always  been  a  faithful  ally  of  the  United 
States,  were  gambled  away  amidst  horrid  scenes  of  rapine  and 
blood ;  but,  then,  his  favorite,  Mr.  Forsyth,  of  Georgia,  was 
his  Secretary  of  State  ;  and,  in  the  case  of  South  Carolina,  the 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  133 

opponent  of  his  invasion  of  Florida  whilst  it  was  a  Spanish 
colony,  and  of  his  hanging  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister,  Mr. 
Calhouu,  was  to  be  punished  and  crushed.  This  was  the  prece 
dent,  sanctioned  by  his  example  and  by  his  immense  popularity, 
which  overthrew  the  maxim  of  Madison,  that  neither  the  Fed 
eral  government  nor  any  of  its  departments  was  or  could  be 
umpire  between  the  States,  and  established  the  supremacy  of 
the  Federal  Congress,  and  the  Executive.  From  that  time  forth 
the  State  Rights  doctrine,  first  perverted  and  misapplied  by 
Mr.  Calhouu,  and  then  directly  assailed  by  General  Jackson, 
began  to  decline  and  seem  impracticable.  Congress  passed  its 
Force  Bill  against  persons  resisting  the  execution  of  the  laws 
of  the  collection  of  duties,  and  President  Jackson  ordered  the 
commander-in-chief  of  the  standing  army,  General  Scott,  to  en 
force  their  execution.  He  obeyed  the  order  with  alacrity  and 
effect. 

Nothing  then  prevented  a  conflict  by  arms  but  the  "  Com 
promise  Bill"  of  the  tariff  of  1832-33.  This  example  and 
precedent  bore  heavily  upon  the  after-issues  of  1860-61,  as 
we  shall  hereafter  see,  and  as  we  have  grievously  felt. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE    FIFTH   DECADE,  FROM   183O    TO   184O. 

Bill  to  modify  and  continue  the  Bank  of  the  United  States — Mr.  Tyler's  Con 
sistency — Mr.  Tyler's  Re-election  to  the  Senate,  to  serve  from  the  Fourth  of 
March,  1833 — His  Suggestions  how  to  compose  the  strife  of  Nullification — 
The  Removal  of  the  Public  Deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States- 
Censure  of  President  Jackson  by  the  Senate — The  President's  Protest — Ex- 
punction — Mr.  Benton's  Notice — Mr.  Tyler's  Report  on  the  Bank  and  Debate 
with  Benton— His  Presidency  of  the  Senate— "  Three  Millions  Bill"— Action 
of  Virginia  Legislature  on  Expunction— Mr.  B.  W.  Leigh— Mr.  Tyler's  Resig 
nation  of  his  Seat  in  the  Senate,  and  Letter — Mr.  Rives  elected  to  fill  the 
Vacancy — Mr.  Leigh  on  the  Verb  "to  keep" — Scene  of  Expunction — Election 
of  Mr.  Van  Buren — Annexation  of  Texas — The  Threat  by  General  Jackson 
against  France — Wharton,  Archer,  Samuel  Houston — How  Annexation  by 
Arms  was  disappointed — The  Boundary  with  Mexico — Jackson  and  Adams 
—The  Sacrilege  of  D— ning  Grotius,  Puffendorf,  and  Vattel— General  Jack 
son's  Unpardonable  Sin  in  the  Eyes  of  Mr.  Adams. 

THE  measure  which  commanded  the  attention  and  drew 
forth  the  abilities  of  Mr.  Tyler  in  the  Congress  of  1831-32, 
besides  the  Force  Bill,  was  the  bill  to  modify  and  continue  the 
act  incorporating  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  In  every 
form  he  voted  for  amendments,  offered  by  various  senators,  to 
weaken  and  restrict  the  powers  of  the  Bank,  as  to  its  cur 
rency;  as  to  the  power  of  Congress  to  alter  or  modify  its 
charter;  as  to  the  rate  of  interest  on  its  loans  and  discounts; 
as  to  the  amount  of  bonus  to  be  paid ;  as  to  the  right  of  the 
States  to  tax  its  branches ;  as  to  indefinite  postponement ;  and, 
finally,  he  voted  against  the  bill,  on  its  engrossment  and  on  its 
passage. 

When  one  reflects  upon  his  course,  in  1812,  censuring  Messrs. 
Giles  and  Brent  for  disobeying  the  instructions  of  the  legis 
lature  by  voting  for  the  United  States  Bank  charter  at  that 
(134) 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  135 

early  day,  and  wlien  one  sees  him  repeating  his  opposition  to 
the  power  of  Congress  to  charter  a  Bank  of  the  United  States 
in  1819,  and  finds  him  again,  in  1832,  opposing  a  recharter  in 
every  part  and  in  the  whole,  in  detail  and  on  the  final  vote ; 
and  when  one  looks  to  his  after-course,  his  votes  and  speeches 
in  Congress  in  persistent  and  uniform  opposition  to  the  con 
stitutionality  of  a  Bank  charter  by  Congress,  the  wonder  is, 
not  that  he  vetoed  the  Bank  charters  submitted  to  his  approval 
as  President,  in  1841,  but  that  any  one  ever  should  imagine  he 
would  or  could  sign  and  approve  a  charter  for  a  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  and  that  any  one  should  have  assailed  his  con 
sistency  on  account  of  his  vetoes.  In  no  matter  of  his  public 
life  was  he  so  consistent  as  in  his  course  on  the  subject  of 
chartering  a  Bank  of  the  United  States. 

The  bill  of  1832  was  vetoed  by  General  Jackson,  and  his 
veto  of  the  Bank  endeared  him  to  the  Democracy,  and  drew  to 
him  nearer  than  ever  the  advocates  of  State  Rights  and  Strict 
Construction.  Mr.  Tyler  was  among  the  most  zealous  sup 
porters  of  the  Bank  veto  of  General  Jackson,  though  his  vote 
on  the  Force  Bill,  afterwards,  separated  him  forever  from  the 
then  administration. 

Mr.  Tyler  was  re-elected  by  the  legislating  of  Virginia  to 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  to  serve  from  the  4th  of  March, 
1833.  He  had  sustained  General  Jackson  in  vetoing  the  United 
States  Bank  charter,  and  he  had  in  his  speech  on  the  Force  Bill 
suggested  the  mode  of  compromising  the  conflict  of  Nullification 
with  the  tariff  for  protection,  and,  of  course,  sustained  Mr.  Clay 
in  his  great  measures  of  pacification,  the  Compromise  Bill  of 
1832-33.  This  again  put  him  farther  apart  from  the  adminis 
tration,  for  General  Jackson  avowedly  desired  the  opportunity 
and  pretext  to  crush  South  Carolina,  and  to  hang  Mr.  Cal- 
houn  and  his  comrades  for  resistance  to  the  tariff.  The  com 
promise  measures  prevented  civil  war  and  withheld  the  arm 
of  force 

But  General  Jackson  was  not  contented  with  vetoing  a  bill 
for  chartering  the  United  States  Bank  anew:  he  was  determined 
to  wage  war  upon  the  then  existing  Bank.  Between  the  ad- 


136  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

journment  of  Congress  in  March  and  its  meeting  in  December, 
1833,  he  determined  upon  removing  the  moneys  of  the  United 
States  from  the  keeping  of  the  Bank. 

Mr.  Duane,  his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  declined  to  obey 
the  orders  of  the  chief  Executive  to  remove  the  public  deposits. 
General  Jackson  dismissed  him  at  once  from  the  Cabinet,  and 
appointed  in  his  stead  Mr.  Taney,  who  did  believe  that  the 
interest  of  the  United  States  required  that  the  public  moneys 
should  be  withdrawn  from  the  Bank,  and,  consequently,  with 
drew  them.  The  question  of  power  was  raised  in  the  Senate, 
whether  the  Executive,  in  this  mode,  could  assume  control 
over  the  custody  of  the  public  treasure,  and  whether  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  was  an  officer  of  the  executive  or  the  legis 
lative  department  of  government,  subject  to  the  power  of  the 
President  or  of  Congress. 

The  Senate,  by  a  decisive  vote,  censured  the  President  as 
"assuming  to  himself  power  and  authority  not  conferred  by  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws,  and  in  derogation  of  both,"  and  con 
demning  the  reasons  assigned  by  Mr.  Taney  for  the  removal  of 
the  deposits.  Mr.  Tyler  voted  for  this  resolution  of  censure,  not 
as  on  a  question  of  "bank  or  no  bank,"  but  upon  the  ground 
that  the  Executive  had  no  power  to  assume  the  custody  and 
control  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  without  authority 
of  an  act  of  Congress,  and  without  reason  of  probable  danger 
or  loss  of  the  public  moneys.  On  presenting  a  memorial  against 
the  removal  of  the  deposits  from  the  people  of  the  city  of  Rich 
mond,  he  said,  "  The  memorialists  look  to  Congress  for  relief. 
They  ask  not  for  a  renewal  of  the  Bank  charter,  but  for  the 
introduction  of  some  stable  financial  system;  not  one  depend 
ing  on  eccentric  will ;  not  a  treasury  resting  on  agents  appointed 
by  the  President,  liable  to  be  displaced  at  his  pleasure,  holding 
their  existence  but  as  the  breath  of  his  nostrils ;  fleeting  and 
ephemeral  as  whim  or  caprice,  passion  or  political  motives, 
might  make  them  ;  but  resting  on  law,  not  to  be  changed  but 
for  high  reasons  of  state  policy,  approved  by  the  wisdom  and 
sanctioned  by  the  experience  of  Congress." 

This  position  took  no  departure  whatever  from  his  constant 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  137 

and  uniform  opposition  to  the  charter  of  the  United  States 
Bank. 

As  to  the  removal  of  the  deposits,  the  only  question  with 
him  before  the  country  was,  "  Whether  Congress  or  the  Presi 
dent  was  charged  with  the  keeping  of  the  treasury." 

This  resolution  of  censure  was  passed  by  the  Senate,  and 
General  Jackson  immediately  hurled  back  defiance  by  sending 
his  memorable  protest,  which  the  Senate  declared  to  be  a 
breach  of  its  privileges,  and  refused  to  place  upon  the  journal. 

At  once  the  work  of  expunction  began  which  hurled  senators 
from  their  seats  in  order  to  fill  them  with  the  pliant  and  supple 
tools  of  executive  power  to  draw  black  lines  on  that  journal 
around  that  resolution  which  dared  to  censure  President  Jack 
son  !  Mr.  Benton  gave  notice  immediately  of  a  Hannibal-like 
vow  never  to  cease  in  his  efforts,  so  long  as  he  had  a  seat  in 
the  Senate,  until  the  resolutions  of  censure  were  stricken  from 
the  journal.  He  fulfilled  the  vow  most  fatally  by  expelling  such 
men  as  John  Tyler  and  Benjamin  Watkins  Leigh,  of  Virginia, 
and  Hugh  Lawson  White,  of  Tennessee,  and  introducing  ex 
punction  partisans  in  their  places,  until  the  indelible  black  lines 
were  drawn  ! 

Mr.  Tyler  especially  became  obnoxious  to  Mr.  Benton.  The 
Committee  of  Finance  of  the  Senate  had  been  ordered  to  inquire 
into  the  affairs  and  condition  of  the  United  States  Bank,  and 
Mr.  Tyler  had  made  a  full  and  able  report  from  that  committee, 
which  was  attacked  by  Mr.  Benton  in  his  characteristic  vein  of 
"  Big  Bully  Bottom." 

Mr.  Tyler  killed  his  assault  by  dignity,  decorum,  and  courtly 
contradiction.  In  reply  to  the  charge  that  he  was  a  partisan 
of  the  Bank,  and  that  the  report  of  the  committee  was  "an  elab 
orate  defense  of  the  Bank,"  he  said,  "  I  am  opposed,  and  have 
always  been  opposed,  to  the  Bank.  In  its  creation  I  regard  the 
Constitution  as  having  been  violated,  and  I  desire  to  see  it  ex 
pire  ;  but  I  should  regard  myself  as  the  basest  of  mankind 
were  I  to  charge  it  falsely." 

•  He  was  at  this  session  elected  president  pro  tempore  of  the 
Senate ;  and  one  of  his  last  acts  was  to  vote  against  the  amend- 


138  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

ment  made  by  the  House  of  Representatives  to  the  Fortification 
Bill,  placing  three  millions  of  dollars  at  the  discretion  of  the 
President  to  provide  for  anticipated  difficulties  with  France  on 
account  of  her  debt  of  only  five  millions  due  the  United  States. 
The  failure  of  this  bill  was  afterwards  made  one  of  the  pretexts 
for  which  Judge  White  was  instructed  out  of  his  seat  in  the 
Senate  by  the  legislature  of  Tennessee.  But  Mr.  Tyler's  seat 
was  the  first  to  be  vacated  by  instructions  to  vote  for  Mr.  Ben- 
ton's  expunging  resolution.  North  Carolina's  legislature  had 
first  instructed  her  senator,  Mr.  Mangum ;  but  he  had  refused 
to  obey  or  to  resign  ;  and  in  February,  1836,  the  legislature  of 
Virginia  was  induced  to  instruct  her  senators  to  expunge  the 
resolution  of  the  Senate  of  March  28,  1834.  The  then  gov 
ernor,  Mr.  Tazewell,  declined  to  transmit  the  instructions  of 
the  legislature  to  the  senators  of  Virginia  in  Congress.  They 
were  sent  by  the  presiding  officers  of  the  two  houses  of  the 
General  Assembly.  The  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  had 
at  previous  sessions  condemned  the  expunging  resolutions, 
and  the  presentation  of  the  resolution  of  the  legislature  to  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  had  caused  Mr.  William  C.  Rives, 
then  the  colleague  of  Mr.  Tyler,  to  resign  his  seat  in  the  Senate, 
and  Mr.  Leigh  had  been  elected  in  his  place,  as  if  expressly  by 
command  of  the  legislature  to  oppose  expunction.  When  in 
structed  in  turn  by  the  legislature  to  vote  for  the  expunging 
resolutions  of  Mr.  Benton,  Mr.  Leigh  wielded  the  fact  of  his 
previous  instructions  and  his  election  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused 
by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Rives,  with  great  effect.  He  refused 
to  obey  or  to  resign,  and  wrote  a  very  able  letter  justifying  his 
course  and  reconciling  his  previous  authorship  of  the  doctrine 
of  instructions  with  his  then  determination  to  resist  to  the 
uttermost  an  extreme,  plain,  and  palpable  violation  of  the  Consti 
tution.  Mr.  Tyler  took  a  different  course.  He  consulted  with 
his  friends,  and  he  announced  that  he  had  always  held  and 
maintained  the  right  and  power  of  the  legislature  to  instruct, 
and  the  duty  and  obligation  of  the  senator  or  representative  to 
obey  or  to  resign,  to  be  absolute  and 'imperative ;  and  his 
friends,  particularly  Judge  White,  advised  him  that  he  had  no 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  139 

election,  and  it  was  most  politic  to  resign.  He  was  very  reluc 
tant  to  separate  in  his  course  from  Mr.  Leigh.  We  were  re 
quested  to  confer  with  the  latter,  and  did  so,  and  we  regret  to 
say  that  but  one  member  of  the  Virginia  delegation  in  Con 
gress,  within  our  knowledge,  did  him  the  justice  and  kindness 
to  confer  with  him.  He  was  ready  for  the  interview.  He  had 
already  written  his  letter  of  response  to  the  legislature,  and 
was,  as  he  always  was,  fully  prepared.  He  read  it  to  us,  and 
made  it  the  text  of  hours  of  commentary.  It  confirmed  our 
opinion  of  him,  that  he  was  one  of  the  greatest  and  noblest  of 
the  men  of  his  day. 

If  Virginia  could  have  been  embodied  and  impersonated, 
and  placed  where  she  could  have  heard  and  seen  him,  her  in 
structions  to  him  to  vote  for  the  expunction  would  have  been 
torn  into  tatters  and  scattered  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven. 

A  man  of  striking  manly  beauty,  with  hair  of  silky,  soft, 
chestnut  brown,  floating  in  curls  imperial  as  those  of  Jove 
when  Olympus  shook  with  his  nod ;  a  strong  gray  eye,  which 
glowed  as  he  breathed  forth  his  inspiration  of  intellect  and 
heart ;  a  finely-chiseled  mouth,  expressing  the  most  delicate 
taste  and  sweet  benevolence ;  and  a  nose  and  chin  of  manly 
fortitude : — one  could  but  inwardly  exclaim,  when  looking  at 
him  and  listening  to  him,  "  Os  homini  sublime  dedit." 

His  comments  were  sad  and  sweet  in  the  extreme.  His 
hymn  of  love  to  Virginia  was  exquisitely  tender : — his  mother, 
how  high  and  holy  in  his  reverence  of  her  no  tongue  could 
tell ;  and  how  exalted  he  held  her  dignity.  He  could  not  see 
her  defiled,  and  would  not  aid  in  degrading  her  at  the  foot 
stool  of  tyranny,  even  though  a  tyrant  demanded  her  prostra 
tion,  and  much  less  would  he  give  way  to  the  prostitution 
of  her  to  the  uses  of  mere  minions  who  aspired  to  promotion 
by  superservility  to  power,  even  if  the  President  did  not  de 
sire  or  demand  the  sacrifice  of  her  self-respect.  But  he  knew 
it  was  in  vain.  He  foresaw  and  predicted  the  issue.  The 
Congress  would  bow  basely  before  a  strong  and  popular  Execu 
tive,  and  the  moment  a  Jackson  was  gone  from  place,  would 
itself  become  the  tyrant  oligarchy  of  the  country.  The  Con- 


140  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

stitution  would  not  protect  against  executive  popularity,  nor 
against  congressional  servility  or  tyranny.  He  counted  the 
recreancy  of  the  Senate  then  as  the  culminating-point  of  the 
reign  of  the  Constitution,  and  almost  portrayed  the  very  course 
of  events  which  have  followed.  But  he  was  still  urged  to  resign, 
and  his  severance  from  Mr.  Tyler  was  deprecated ;  he  regretted 
this  too,  and  insisted  that  he  had  an  understanding  with  Mr. 
Tyler  to  act  in  concert,  and  disclosed  a  personal  motive  control 
ling  his  own  course, — that  when  North  Carolina  had  instructed 
Mr.  Mangum,  her  senator,  to  vote  for  expunction,  he  (Mr. 
Leigh)  had  counseled  him  to  neither  obey  nor  resign ;  and  hav 
ing  given  that  advice  to  his  friend,  he  could  not  in  honor  fail 
to  pursue  the  same  course  himself.  When  reminded  that  Mr. 
Tyler  had  given  no  such  counsel,  and  he  could  not  expect  him 
to  obey  it,  he  then  said  they  would  have  to  take  different 
courses.  With  this  he  was  never  content.  He  always — very 
unjustly  (we  think) — complained  that  Mr.  Tyler  did  not  sustain 
him,  forgetting  that  Mr.  Tyler  was  free  from  any  such  obliga 
tion  as  that  of  Mr.  Leigh  to  Mr.  Mangum,  and  that  Mr.  Leigh 
was  as  much  pledged  to  go  along  with  Mr.  Tyler  as  the  latter 
was  pledged  to  go  along  with  him,  Mr.  Leigh.  So  it  was,  they 
were  obliged  to  separate.  Mr.  Tyler  could  not,  and  would  not, 
obey  the  instructions,  and,  in  accordance  with  the  consistency 
of  his  whole  life  upon  the  doctrine  of  instructions  and  obedi 
ence  or  resignation,  he  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  on  the  20th  of  February,  1836,  and  on  the  29th 
of  the  same  month  addressed  to  the  Speaker  and  members  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  a  letter  of  great  dignity  and 
strength,  giving  his  reasons  for  not  obeying  their  instructions, 
and  for  resigning  his  trust  into  their  hands. 

This  sent  him  back  to  private  life,  but  not  to  obscurity ;  nor 
did  it  diminish  his  usefulness  or  prominence  for  promotion.  A 
singular  revolution  of  events  and  parties  soon  brought  him 
again  conspicuous  for  the  highest  trusts.  He  had  served  three 
years  of  his  term  from  the  4th  of  March,  1833,  and  Mr.  Rives 
was  elected  to  fill  his  unexpired  term  until  March  4th,  1839. 

This  brought  Mr.  Rives  and  Mr.  Leigh  into  contrast  in  the 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  HI 

Senate.  The  contrast  was  one  of  high  lights  and  deep  shades. 
The  subject  was  one  involving  constitutional  law,  a  history  of 
parliament,  the  limitations  of  executive  power,  the  guards  of 
legislative  power,  the  freedom  of  debate,  the  independence  of  the 
separate  departments  of  government,  the  dignity  and  duty  of 
the  Senate  in  respect  to  its  proceedings  and  records,  and  the 
learning  of  philology.  As  a  constitutional  and  civil  lawyer, 
as  a  historian,  as  a  logician,  as  a  patriot,  jealous  of  power  and 
sensitive  to  any  encroachment  upon  limitations  guarding  the 
rights  of  legislation  and  the  freedom  of  resolutions  and  laws, 
as  well  as  of  debate,  and  as  a  scholar  and  rhetorician,  no  man 
compared  with  Mr.  Leigh  in  the  argument  on  the  topic  of  ex- 
punction.  He  was  a  purist  in  his  Anglo-Saxon,  and  his  speech 
was,  in  its  style,  equal  to  that  of  the  Elizabethan  age  of  Eng 
lish  literature,  not  surpassed  by  the  "  well  of  English"  of  Dean 
Swift.  His  figure  of  the  silkworm  spinning  its  cocoon  from 
its  own  bowels,  as  applied  in  this  debate,  is  a  fine  specimen  of 
the  use  of  rhetoric's  tools,  and  his  illustrations  of  the  verb  "to 
keep,"  of  its  meaning  in  continuando,  "to  keep  a  journal,"  show 
how  necessary  is  the  knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  words  to  a 
knowledge  of  laws  and  to  the  preservation  of  liberties.  From 
every  source  of  written  language  he  proved  the  power  of  that 
verb.  He  went  to  the  Ten  Commandments,  to  the  Old  and 
the  New  Testament,  to  standard  profane  writers,  to  prose  and 
poetry,  to  prove  that  it  had  a  peculiar  strength  of  meaning, 
always  conveying  the  same  idea  of  preservation — preservation  as 
the  thing  was — and  continual  preservation  ;  and  in  winding  up 
a  paragraph  of  citations  of  its  use,  he  said,  "  And,  Mr.  President, 
in  that  catechism  which  I  learned  at  my  mother's  knee,  I  was 
taught '  to  keep — to  keep — to  keep'  my  hands  from  picking  and 
stealing,  and  my  tongue  from  evil  speaking  !" 

He  was  not  a  vehement  orator  in  tone,  but  was  most  earnest 
in  utterance  and  manner.  He  had  a  soft,  clear,  flutelike  voice, 
but  it  was  not  loud.  He  carried  no  audience  by  vociferation  or 
violent  action ;  but  he  trickled,  as  it  were,  gently  upon  his 
hearers,  and  they  were  held  in  mute  attention  by  a  murmuring 
music,  his  eye  looking  more  than  he  said,  and  his  speech  and 


142  SEVEN"  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

bearing  glowing  with  a  genial  integrity  of  thought  which  put 
opposition  to  blush,  it  was  so  clear,  so  simple,  so  pure,  so  gener 
ous,  so  just,  and  so  warm  with  manly  honor  and  feeling.  Every 
word  was  right  in  the  right  place,  his  accent  and  pronunciation 
were  precisely  correct,  and  the  modulation  of  his  voice  was 
natural  and  sweetly  touching. 

He  was  a  small  man,  yet  in  speaking  seemed  large,  so 
elevated  was  he  by  his  theme,  and  so  gallant  and  game  was  his 
mien.  He  was  lame,  one  leg  shortened,  and  wore  a  cork  sole 
on  one  of  his  boots.  When  about  to  be  emphatic,  he  usually 
caught  his  left  wrist  in  his  right  hand  and  sank  back  on  his 
lame  leg,  pausing  to  poise  himself,  and,  as  he  rose  to  the  climax 
of  what  he  was  about  to  utter,  would  bear  upon  his  sound  leg 
and  rise  on  it  with  his  hands  free.  This  attitude  was  not 
always  graceful,  but  always  excited  sympathy  in  his  hearer  for 
his  infirmity.  It  was  thus  he  uttered  the  sentence  about  "keep 
ing  his  hands  from  picking  and  stealing,  and  his  tongue  from  evil 
speaking."  He  dropped  back  on  his  lame  leg,  his  left  wrist  in 
his  right  hand,  paused  and  settled  himself, — in  that  pause  fixed 
his  eyes  on  Thomas  H.  Benton  with  an  intense  gaze, — began 
low,  uttered  softly  as  far  as  the  words  "my  mother's  knee," 
raised  his  voice  at  the  words  "  I  learned,"  and,  pronouncing 
the  words  "  to  keep"  three  times,  each  time  louder  and  louder, 
he  rose  upon  his  sound  leg,  loosed  his  wrist,  and  putting 
forward  both  his  hands,  exclaimed,  "  My  hands  from  picking 
and  stealing,  and  my  tongue  from  evil  speaking!" 

A  pin  might  have  been  heard  to  drop  on  the  floor  of  the 
Senate;  there  sat  Mr.  Benton,  swinging  back  in  his  chair,  his 
eyes  looking  up  to  the  wall,  patting  his  foot,  and  Mr.  Leigh's 
eyes  fixed  on  him  for  some  seconds,  which  seemed  hours. 
Breaths  were  drawn  when  those  eyes  were  taken  off  of  him. 
It  was  the  touch  of  IthuriePs  spear,  and  the  cravat  of  Chapel 
Hill  was  revealed  as  plainly  as  the  "  toad  squat"  was  shown  to 
be  Lucifer  himself. 

Mr.  Leigh  was  a  debater  of  the  senatorial  order.  Had  he 
been  earlier  in  the  Senate,  as  long  as  Clay,  Webster,  or  Cal- 
houn,  he  would  have  been  tht  master  there,  with  all  three 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  143 

present.  The  longer  he  wore  it  the  brighter  and  higher-mettled 
was  his  steel.  He  was  an  "intellectual  bully,"  but  never  meant 
to  be  personal  in  debate.  Every  one  thought  that,  in  the  in 
stance  just  related,  he  meant  to  be  personal  to  Mr.  Benton  ; 
but  he  did  not  so  mean. 

This  was  proved  afterwards.  We  were  present  at  the  draw 
ing  of  the  black  lines.  The  clerk  of  the  Senate,  Asbury  Dickens, 
rose  to  go  after  the  journal  to  bring  it  in  to  do  execution  upon, 
It  was  brought  and  laid  upon  the  desk  before  him;  and  just  at 
that  moment  every  senator  opposed  to  expunction,  except  Judge 
White,  rose  from  his  seat  and  began  to  move  out,  Mn  Ben- 
ton  making  the  most  derisive  and  scornful  exclamations  as 
they  made  their  exit.  A  man  in  the  gallery  cried  aloud  some 
disorderly  response,  when  Mr.  Benton  exclaimed,  "  Bank  ruf 
fians!  bank  ruffians!  Seize  them,  sergeant-at-arms!"  The  man 
was  immediately  arrested,  and  brought  before  the  Senate.  As 
soon  as  this  disorder  was  quieted,  the  clerk  opened  the  journal 
at  the  page  of  the  resolution  of  censure;  it  seemed  to  resist 
the  opening,  the  back  was  stiff,  and  it  shut  together  again, 
until  pressed  open  wide,  and  the  page  so  held  as  to  lay  upon 
it  the  rule  by  the  straight  edge  of  which  the  black  lines  were 
to  be  drawn.  We  could  not  but  imagine  the  book  of  the  journal 
as  resisting  the  violation.  It  seemed  like  a  living  victim  on 
the  altar  of  sacrifice,  and  the  scratch  of  the  pen  alone  was  heard 
in  the  awful  silence  which  prevailed  when  the  gall  of  party 
bitterness  drew  its  lines  in  the  blackness  of  darkness  around 
the  freedom  and  independence  of  the  Senate.  The  moment 
was  one  of  intense  interest,  and  was  disturbed  by  Mr.  Benton 
rising  from  his  seat,  and  ostentatiously  congratulating  persons 
in  the  lower  gallery  on  the  triumph  of  his  resolutions  of  sub 
serviency  to  the  worship  of  a  man  who  despised  and  denounced 
him.  He  was  boisterously  moving  from  man  to  man,  reaching 
out  his  hand,  until  he  came  to  the  Hon.  Baillie  Peyton,  of  Ten 
nessee,  who  waited  his  expected  offer  of  a  touch  with  such  a 
countenance  of  contempt  and  detestation  that  he  shrunk  back, 
desisted  from  his  gasconading,  and  resumed  his  seat.  Peyton 
was  just  about  to  denounce  him  as  a  Chapel  Hill  thief,  un- 


H4  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

worthy  to  denounce  strangers  as  bank  ruffians,  when,  fortunately 
for  himself,  he  turned  away. 

The  next  morning  Mr.  Webster  requested  us,  as  a  witness 
of  the  scene,  to  prepare  a  description  of  it,  which  was  done ; 
and,  after  the  adjournment  of  that  session  of  Congress,  we  por 
trayed  it  at  a  dinner  in  Norfolk,  in  a  speech  which  was  published 
in  full  in  the  Richmond  Whig  of  the  time.  In  order  to  describe 
the  apparent  effect  of  Mr.  Leigh's  eye  upon  Mr.  Benton  when 
quoting  the  catechism  taught  him  at  his  mother's  knee  about 
"picking  and  stealing,"  we  said  that<a  short  time  before  we  had 
visited  the  exhibition  of  the  French  painting  of  Adam  and  Eve  ; 
that  we  thought  we  had  found  it  obnoxious  to  a  severely  just 
criticism  ;  that  Adam  was  reclining  on  the  soft  sward  of  Para 
dise,  and  whilst  Eve  was  resting  by  his  side,  whispering  tempta 
tion  in  his  ear,  the  serpent  coiled  around  the  tree  of  Life  was 
breathing  the  visible  influence  of  evil  upon  the  golden  ringlets 
of  her  hair.  The  influence  was  painted :  it  was  visible  and 
tangible.  This,  we  thought,  was  not  the  work  or  design  of  a 
master.  It  was  French  exaggeration ;  the  French  had  never 
been  poets  or  painters ;  none  but  a  French  artist,  we  thought, 
would  be  so  poor  in  invention  as  to  attempt  to  paint  an  influ 
ence.  It  was  not  so  much  exaggeration  as  the  poverty  of  art. 
But  we  admitted,  afterwards,  that  the  scene  of  Leigh  looking 
at  Benton,  when  illustrating  the  duty  "to  keep"  a  journal  con 
tinually  as  it  was,  as  the  catechism  teaches  "  to  keep  our  hands 
from  picking  and  stealing,"  corrected  and  contradicted  our  criti 
cism  on  the  painting  of  Adam  and  Eve.  An  influence  could  be 
seen  and  touched.  We  had  seen  it,  and  it  had  touched  Thomas 
H.  Benton.  We  had  seen  the  look  of  Mr.  Leigh  upon  him 
when  he  quoted  the  catechism.  The  bright  strong  eye  lighted 
a  flame  ;  that  flame  went  forth  like  a  sword  to  the  man  at  whom 
it  pointed,  and  pierced  him  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  the  joints 
and  the  marrow, — it  was  visible  and  tangible  and  could  be 
painted ;  and  if  the  sword  or  spear  of  the  angel  might  be  seen 
to  touch  the  toad,  so  artistic  license  allowed  the  mist  or  miasm 
of  evil  to  be  seen,  felt,  and  painted.  Mr.  Leigh,  on  reading  the 
speech,  of  his  own  motion  addressed  a  card  to  the  Richmond 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  U5 

press,  saying  that,  whatever  might  have  been  the  inference  of 
his  audience,  he  did  not  think  of  any  personality  to  Mr.  Benton 
at  the  time,  and  that  if  he  had  so  meant  he  would  have  ex 
pressed  the  meaning,  as  his  wont  was  never  to  insult  any  one 
but  in  unmistakable  and  direct  terms.  The  first  time  we  met 
him  afterwards  we  told  him  that  the  inference  was  so  strong 
that  he  alluded  to  Chapel  Hill,  when  looking  at  Benton,  whilst 
making  this  quotation,  that  it  seemed  impossible  he  could  mean 
otherwise.  He  was  hurt,  and  again  protested  that  he  meant 
nothing  personally  offensive  whatever. 

At  all  events,  he  totally  overthrew  every  champion  in  the 
debate,  and  Mr.  Rives  was  not  even  straw  on  the  horns  of  an 
ox  in  comparison  with  him.  He  was  an  Ajax  Telamon  any 
where  in  debate,  but  too  honest,  mentally  and  morally,  for 
political  life.  We  shall  always  regret  that  he  did  not  follow  the 
example  of  Mr.  Tyler  and  resign. 

It  is  necessary  here  to  pause  upon  some  points  in  General 
Jackson's  administration  during  the  last  years  of  his  two  terms. 
The  two  major  topics  with  him  in  the  latter  part  of  his  reign 
were  the  election  of  his  successor  and  the  annexation  of  Texas. 
On  the  question  of  demanding  the  five  millions  from  France, 
he  had  been  peremptory  in  his  tone,  and  no  council  of  Cabinet 
or  friend  could  mitigate  or  temper  his  demand. 

On  that  subject  he  had  himself  dictated  the  very  language  he 
would  employ  in  uttering  a  threat  direct  to  Louis  Philippe. 
The  Cabinet  consulted  to  change  the  phraseology.  Mr.  Forsyth, 
then  Secretary  of  State,  was  adroit  in  language,  and  wisely,  he 
thought,  changed  the  paragraph  which  the  President  had  dic 
tated.  The  change  in  words  was  but  a  shade  different  in 
meaning ;  but  he  sought  to  make  the  message  more  diplomatic 
in  terms  and  more  conformable,  of  course,  to  peaceful  and  cour 
teous  national  intercourse.  It  was  in  vain.  When  Mr.  An 
drew  J.  Donelson,  the  President's  private  secretary,  brought  to 
him  the  proof-sheets  of  the  message,  Mr.  John  C.  Rives,  of  the 
Globe,  was  present. 

Mr.  Donelson  read,  whilst  the  general  walked  the  room,  pipe 
in  his  mouth,  smoking,  and  the  printer  the  only  attendant.  All 

10 


146  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

was  quietly  listened  to  until  the  reader  came  to  the  passage 
relating  to  the  five  millions  debt  due  by  France.  Mr.  Donelson 
was  evidently  desirous  so  to  read  the  paragraph  on  that  subject 
as  to  avoid  notice  of  the  change  in  words  which  had  been  made. 
General  Jackson  at  once  paused  in  his  walk,  stopped,  and 
said,  "  Read  that  again,  sir."  Mr.  Donelson  then  read  the 
passage  distinctly,  and  General  Jackson  was  instantly  roused, 
saying,  "  That,  sir,  is  not  my  language ;  it  has  been  changed, 
and  I  will  have  no  other  expression  of  my  own  meaning  than 
my  own  words." 

He  immediately  and  vehemently  had  the  change  erased,  and 
his  own  language,  even  more  strongly  importing  a  threat,  in 
serted,  heard  the  message  read  through,  and  then  placed  it  in 
the  hands  of  Mr.  Rives,  forbidding  him  to  let  it  be  seen  in  his 
hands,  or  to  let  it  pass  out  of  his  hands,  until  after  it  was 
printed  as  corrected  and  until  permission  was  granted  by  him, 
"at  his  peril." 

Thus  the  message  was  made  what  it  was,  which  literally 
wrung  the  five  millions  from  France. 

He  was  wiser  than  his  Cabinet.  His  absolute  dictation 
won  at  once  what  their  diplomacy  would  have  been  years  in 
obtaining. 

But  he  was  not  always  absolute  in  his  dictation.  He  was 
not  so  in  respect  to  the  annexation  of  Texas.  That  darling 
project  of  his  policy  conflicted  with  another  more  darling,  the 
election  of  his  successor. 

When  we  went  to  Tennessee  in  1828,  we  found  Texas  an  en 
grossing  subject  of  interest  to  the  Southwestern  mind.  Archer 
and  Austin  were  forerunners  there,  and  had  made  contracts  of 
settlements  with  Mexico,  which,  drawing  a  population  from  the 
United  States,  were  rapidly  filling  Texas  up  with  democratic 
settlers,  and  Mexico  became  alarmed.  She  began  to  apprehend 
exactly  what  soon  afterwards  happened,  a  war  with  Texas  and 
its  subsequent  annexation  to  the  United  S'tates. 

This  caused  her  to  commence  a  series  of  acts  arbitrarily  re 
scinding  the  contracts  of  Austin  and  others,  seizing  their  acqui 
sitions,  and  persecuting  and  oppressing  the  settlers  from  the 


THE  FIFTH   DECADE.  Uf 

United  States,  who  had,  without  their  fault,  been  tempted  by 
Mexico  to  seek  homes  in  Texas.  This  aroused  the  friends  and 
kindred  of  former  fellow-citizens  of  these  settlers  in  all  the 
Southwest.  "  Off  to  Texas  !"  was  the  cry, — to  assert  the  right 
of  settlement  there  by  contract,  to  protect  the  pioneers  there 
already,  and  to  take  that  fertile  province  from  a  despotic  and 
semi-barbarous  power,  degraded  by  a  mixture  of  races,  white, 
black,  and  copper-colored,  of  whom  it  was  said,  "  They  are  a 
nation  whose  men  are  all  bandits,  and  whose  women  are  all 
harlots !" 

At  the  first  commencement  of  the  Nashville  University,  which 
occurred  after  our  arrival  there,  a  youth,  William  W barton, 
whose  father  was  a  Virginian,  was  graduated,  and  delivered  an 
oration  which  marked  him  as  a  man  of  great  promise.  He 
was  the  pride  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lindsley,  who  then  presided  over 
that  Alma  Mater  of  many  another  distinguished  alumnus  of  the 
West. 

Wharton  delivered  his  salutatory,  and  immediately  went  off 
to  Texas  to  join  Dr.  Archer,  also  from  Virginia,  the  first  military 
leader  of  the  Texas  Revolution,  and  became,  as  was  predicted 
for  him,  a  distinguished  soldier  and  legislator,  and  finally  was 
made  legate  of  the  revolution  to  the  United  States.  He  died 
young,  but  lived  long  enough  to  accomplish  his  first  purpose  in 
life,  and  to  fulfill  a  most  urgent  promise  he  made  when  beg 
ging  us  to  join  our  fortunes  with  his  own,  to  tear  Texas  from 
despotism,  in  order  to  annex  her  to  the  United  States. 

An  older  but  not  a  better  man  than  Wharton  was  soon  obliged 
to  leave  his  adopted  State  for  her  good.  Samuel  Houston  was 
then  the  governor  of  the  State  of  Tennessee.  He  had  been  a 
popular  pet,  but  his  life  was  one  of  most  dissolute  habits.  He 
became  a  candidate  for  re-election  to  the  office  he  held,  but 
General  William  Carroll,  one  of  the  heroes  of  Jackson's  cam 
paigns,  the  comrade  of  General  Coffee  on  the  night  of  the  22d 
of  December  in  front  of  New  Orleans,  was  his  competitor. 

The  contest,  it  was  thought  by  Houston  and  his  friends, 
would  be  very  doubtful  at  least.  It  would  certainly  have 
been  bitter,  for  General  Carroll  denounced  Houston  in  unmeas- 


148  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE    UNION. 

ured  terms.  He  said  on  the  streets  of  Nashville  that  Houston 
was  a  coward,  that  at  the  battle  of  the  Horse  Shoe  he — then  a 
private  in  the  ranks — was  struck  by  a  ball  in  the  arm,  and  "  blub 
bered  so  that  General  Jackson  ordered  the  calf  to  be  sent  to 
the  rear  ;"  and  he  spoke  without  reserve  of  his  habits  unfitting 
him  for  his  place.  Houston,  then  advanced  in  life,  spent  in 
dissipation,  and  still  suffering  from  a  seton  in  that  wounded  arm, 
sought  to  strengthen  himself  and  insure  his  election  by  an  alli 
ance  in  marriage  with  one  of  the  most  popular  and  influential 
families  in  Middle  Tennessee,  residing  near  Gallatin.  A  sweet 
and  artless  daughter  of  that  family  was,  in  her  flyflap  bonnet, 
at  a  village  school.  She  was  captivating,  and  her  heart  had 
already  caught  the  flame  of  the  love  of  a  suitor  whose  youth 
was  suitable  to  her  own.  In  that  coy  state  of  young  girl's  first 
love,  the  eye  of  the  ogre  fell  upon  her. 

Her  family  was  sought  by  Samuel  Houston  from  which  to 
select  a  victim,  not  of  his  love,  but  his  selfish  electioneering  for 
influence  to  save  him  in  office.  Poor,  innocent,  injured  victim ! 
— the  family  were  flattered  by  the  governor,  and  she  was  torn 
from  her  youth  and  her  pure,  natural,  maiden  love  to  become 
the  victim  of  his  jealousy  and  his  heartless,  selfish  ambition  ! 
The  connection  was  so  unnatural  and  so  repugnant  to  public 
sentiment  that  it  brought  down  upon  the  monster  a  chivalry 
which  drove  him  from  the  seat  of  power  which  he  defiled.  Her 
champions  placarded  him  on  the  public  square  of  Nashville  for 
every  crime  in  the  calendar  which  could  deprive  him  of  any  pre 
tension  to  be  above  a  brute.  General  Jackson's  gallantry  alone 
aided  him.  He  had  been  one  of  his  soldiers,  and  was  one  of  his 
political  adherents,  and  Jackson  was  never  known  to  desert  a 
friend  ! — he  had  to  be  servile  to  him,  but  he  would  serve  him ; 
but  he  did  not  excuse  his  conduct,  and  advised  him  to  resign  his 
office  and  leave  Tennessee,  to  join  the  revolution  in  Texas,  giving 
him,  doubtless,  instructions  then  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  revo 
lution.  He  was  to  be  made  its  leader,  rvith  the  influence  of 
General  Jackson,  then  President  elect  of  the  United  States, 
to  back  him.  Houston  at  first  affected  a  mind  diseased,  and 
put  on  the  white-tanned  skin  of  a  pied  heifer,  and  actually 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  149 

wore  it  on   the  streets  of  Nashville   until   he  left  the  State 
forever. 

General  Jackson  was  a  deep  and  far-seeing  politician.  He 
made  especial  use  of  Houston.  The  revolution  in  Texas  went 
on,  doubtfully  enough,  until  it  reached  the  critical  point  when 
President  Jackson  was  to  interpose  the  sword  of  the  United 
States.  How  was  that  to  be  done  ?  None  other  than  General 
Jackson  in  the  Presidency  would  have  thought  of  his  way  of 
violating  the  laws  of  neutrality.  He  suddenly  declared  that 
the  boundary  usually  known  to  geography  and  to  treaty  as  the 
line  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico  was  not  the  true 
line,  and,  by  his  organ,  the  Globe,  stated  that  Mr.  John  Quincy 
Adams,  being  Secretary  of  State  at  the  time  the  boundary  with 
Mexico  was  fixed,  had,  out  of  his  old  grudge  to  the  interests 
of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  betrayed  the  United  States, 
and  agreed  to  a  boundary  too  far  east  by  several  leagues  of  ter 
ritory  ;  that  the  river  Sabine  was  not  the  true  boundary,  but 
that  the  Nueces  was  the  true  boundary.  In  protecting  the  border 
of  the  United  States  against  aggressions  from  belligerents  on 
either  side  of  the  civil  war  in  Mexico,  he  would  order  General 
Gaines  to  array  his  army  for  border  protection  with  its  front  on 
the  western  line,  which  he  avowed  he  knew  to  be  the  true  line 
of  neutrality.  This  is  necessary  to  be  known  to  save  Hous 
ton's  reputation  from  the  reproach  of  cowardice  at  the  battle  of 
San  Jacinto.  He  was  instructed  by  Jackson  not  to  fight  Santa 
Anna  a  decisive  battle  until  he  reached  the  front  of  Gaines  on 
his  pretended  line,  but  to  retreat  across  it,  and  then,  if  Santa 
Anna  should  pass  it,  Gaines  was  ordered  to  repel  him  by  the 
arms  of  the  United  States.  Houston  was  retreating  under 
this  secret  understanding  with  General  Jackson.  His  officers 
and  men  were  anxious  to  fight,  conscious  that  they  were  able 
to  conquer,  and  were  indignant  when  Houston,  at  San  Jaidnto, 
still  ordered  retreat.  Two  by  two  and  ten  by  ten,  they  refused 
to  retreat,  and,  against  orders,  turned  to  fight,  Houston's  mo 
tives  being  misunderstood.  They  fought  and  whipped  the 
enemy,  and  Houston,  it  is  said,  was  wounded  in  the  tendo- 
Achillis  by  his  own  men.  He  did  not  order  the  battle,  and 


150  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

was  wounded  by  them  under  a  mistake  of  his  motives  and 
in  ignorance  of  his  instructions.  This  prevented  the  success  of 
deep-laid  strategy. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  there  was  a  vigilant  observer  of  the  contest.  John 
Quincy  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  had  watched  the  contest  in 
Texas  and  the  pretext  for  the  new  boundary.  As  soon  as  General 
Jackson  assailed  him,  he  was  prepared  to  meet  the  assault.  He 
gave  a  bunch  of  keys  to  a  colleague  in  the  House,  and  told  the 
House  that  when  he  was  Secretary  of  State,  under  Mr.  Monroe, 
he  had  to  fix  the  boundary  of  Mexico ;  that  he  had  called  to  his 
assistance  General  Andrew  Jackson,  who  advised  him  that  the 
true  boundary  was  the  river  Sabine,  and  that  he  had  caused 
him,  Mr.  Adams,  to  adopt  that  line ;  that  there  was  a  note  or 
memorandum  of  that  interview  between  him,  Mr.  Adams,  and 
Andrew  Jackson, "made  at  the  time,  in  his  escritoire  at  Brain- 
tree,  Massachusetts,  describing  it  particularly ;  that  it  was  in  a 
certain  bundle  of  papers,  labeled  as  described  by  him  on  the 
floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives  ;  that  he  had  given  the 
keys  of  that  escritoire  to  a  colleague  to  be  forwarded  to  a 
responsible  gentleman  in  Boston,  who  was  requested  to  examine 
the  escritoire  at  Braintree  for  the  paper  ;  that  its  contents  would 
show  on  its  face  that,  on  a  certain  day,  he,  Mr.  Adams,  had 
consulted  with  General  Jackson  as  to  the  true  boundary  of 
Mexico,  and  that  General  Jackson's  own  advice  had  been  noted, 
and  was  one  of  the  vouchers  for  his,  Mr.  Adams's,  conclusion 
as  to  the  selection  of  the  Sabine.  He  said  that  if  there  was 
no  such  paper  found  as  described,  or  that,  if  found,  it  did 
not  sustain  his  statement,  he  would  consent  to  submit  to  the 
reproach  cast  upon  him  in  respect  to  the  Mexican  boundary ; 
but  if  such  a  paper  was  found,  with  the  contents  as  stated,  he 
would  submit  it  as  evidence  that  the  accusation  against  him 
was  false. 

In  due  time  the  return  to  this  search  arrived  in  Washington, 
and  fully  sustained  the  statement  of  Mr.  Adams.  It  showed 
his  extraordinary  memory  and  great  care  of  memoranda.  It 
sustained  his  statement  beyond  all  ordinary  tests  of  evidence, 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  151 

and  he  made  a  most  triumphant  speech  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  showing  his  fidelity  to  his  country  in  the  discharge 
of  this  duty.  He  had  just  taken  his  seat,  when  we  happened 
to  be  passing  it.  At  that  time  we  were,  personally,  very  friendly, 
and  he  even  showed  to  us  occasionally  that  we  were  a  favorite. 
As  we  were  passing,  he  called  out,  as  Frederick  the  Great  did 
to  some  distinguished  general,  "Come,  shV-by  my  side;  I  had 
rather  have  you  on  my  side  than  opposed  to  me." 

The  seat  which  adjoined  that  of  Mr.  Adams  being  for  the 
moment  vacant,  we  took  it ;  and  then  perhaps  occurred  what 
will  better  illustrate  the  characteristic  differences,  or  rather 
contrasts,  of  Adams  and  Jackson  than  any  labored  description 
could  possibly  do.  Mr.  Adams  said,  "Andrew  Jackson  is  a  bad 
man,  and  so  are  you  !" 

"  I  am  sure,  Mr.  Adams,  that  you  do  not  call  me  to  your  side 
to  insult  or  reproach  me,  but  rather  to  give  me  instruction. 
What  do  you  mean  ?" 

"I  mean,"  he  said,  "that  you  have  some  bad  principles, — as 
that  one  man  may  hold  another  in  bondage.  You  are  bad  so 
far  as  your  principles  are  bad.  But  I  especially  mean  to  say 
that  Andrew  Jackson  is  a  bad  man  because  he  has  no  princi 
ples  at  all,  and  is  therefore  worse  than  a  man  with  bad  princi 
ples."  He  then  went  on  to  say,  "When  I  was  Secretary  of 
State,  under  Mr.  Monroe,  Andrew  Jackson  invaded  Florida, 
and  hung  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister.  He  was  arraigned  for  that 
conduct  before  the  Cabinet  of  Mr.  Monroe.  I  alone  defended 
his  course,  and  put  him  on  the  high  ground  of  international 
law,  as  expounded  by  Grotius,  Puffendorf,  and  Yattel,  and  his 
conduct  was  justified  by  Mr.  Monroe  and  by  Congress.  He 
was  justified  in  doing  right  by  the  highest  authorities  on  the 
laws  of  nations.  On  the  contrary,  he  preferred  to  plead  orders 
to  do  wrong,  rather  than  rely  on  the  authorities  of  the  law  for 
doing  right.  He  published  a  certificate  from  that  old  dotard, 
Johnny  Ray  (of  Tennessee),  that  he  had  seen  and  read  an  order 
from  President  Monroe  to  him,  General  Jackson,  to  invade 
Florida,  which  certificate  James  Monroe,  on  his  death-bed,  pro 
nounced  to  be  a  forgery.  He  chose  rather  to  rely  on  a  forged 


152  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

order  to  do  wrong  than  on  the  laws  of  nations  to  do  right.  He 
said,  'D — n  Grotius!  d — n  Puffendorf!  d — n  Vattel! — this  is  a 
mere  matter  between  Jim  Monroe  and  myself!'" 

Jackson  was  the  very  man  to  d — n  Grotius,  Puffendorf,  and 
Vattel ;  and  Adams  was  the  very  man  to  condemn  him  for  that 
above  all  other  things  as  a  great  malefactor.  Jackson  cared 
only  for  his  justification  ;  but  Adams  was  horrified  at  its  mode. 
Jackson  made  law,  Adams  quoted  it. 

Thus  it  was  that  General  Jackson  aimed  to  annex  Texas ; 
but  the  unexpected  victory  of  the  Texans  at  San  Jacinto  dis 
arranged  his  plan  of  doing  so. 

Houston's  orders  were  to  retreat;  but  Archer,  Felix  Hous 
ton,  Rusk,  and  Wharton  turned  and  fought,  and  captured  Santa 
Anna  before  he  reached  the  lines  where  Gaines  was  instructed 
to  repel  his  advance  upon  the  territory  of  the  United  States. 

Annexation  was  thus  balked  by  an  accident  of  arms,  and 
policy  forbade  annexation  by  negotiation  :  the  chances  of  the 
successor,  Mr.  Yan  Buren,  might,  and  probably  would,  thereby 
be  defeated.  Jackson  could  not,  in  the  face  of  the  presidential 
election,  risk  the  effect  of  that  question  on  the  North. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  had  to  be  non-committal  in  order  to  make  his 
election  hopeful. 

Thus  annexation  was  postponed  for  the  time. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   FIFTH   DECADE,    FROM   183O   TO   184O. 

Intrigues  to  make  Mr.  Van  Buren  the  Favorite  for  the  Succession — Judge  White — 
The  Effect  of  the  Ambition  of  the  President  to  elect  his  Successor — The  Elec 
tion  in  1836 — The  Union  of  all  Factions  in  Opposition,  forming  the  Whig 
Party— The  Election  of  Mr.  Rives  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  in  the 
Session  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  of  1838-39 — Treachery  to  Mr. 
Tyler  made  him  Vice-President — Mr.  Webster's  Opposition  to  the  Nomina 
tion  of  Mr.  Clay — The  Triangular  Correspondence — Judge  White's  Warning 
and  Prophecy — Mr.  Clay's  Pledges  and  Committals  on  Practical  Points — 
Judge  White  instructed  out  of  the  Senate  by  Locofocoism  in  the  Tennessee 
Legislature — Scenes  with  Mr.  Clay  in  1840 — His  Habits  up  to  1844 — His  War 
with  Webster,  resulting  in  the  Election  of  Harrison  and  Tyler — The  total 
Dismemberment  of  the  Whig  Party  before  Harrison's  Inauguration. 

EVERY  intrigue  was  resorted  to  for  the  promotion  of  Mr. 
Van  Bureu's  prospects  for  the  succession. 

The  Kitchen  Cabinet,  as  it  was  called,  had  gossiped  Mr. 
Calhoun  out  of  favor  and  out  of  the  vice-presidential  chair; 
and  the  last  years  of  General  Jackson's  administration  were 
devoted  to  the  great  end  of  electing  his  successor.  All  the 
personal  influence  of  the  President,  and  all  the  magnetic  influ 
ence  of  his  patronage,  were  brought  to  bear  on  that  one  leading 
object.  This  dominant  passion  seemed  to  pervert  his  will  and 
change  his  professions  of  policy  and  principles,  and  exposed 
his  administration  to  every  approach  and  reproach  of  venality 
and  corruption,  and  the  country  to  all  their  dangers.  The  evil 
was  manifest  at  once  to  all  his  patriotic  friends,  who  before  had 
been  his  main  pillars  of  strength. 

The  name  highest  on  the  list  of  Andrew  Jackson's  friends, 
which  vouched  for  his  ability  and  fidelity  and  for  his  wisdom 
and  virtue,  was  that  of  Hugh  Lawson  White,  the  Nestor  of  his 
day  in  the  Senate,  and  the  Cato  of  his  country.  *  He  had  been 

(153) 


154  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

the  dignified,  reserved,  senatorial  counselor  of  his  neighbor  and 
early  friend,  and  had  declined  every  tender  of  office — promotion 
could  not  be  conferred  on  him — after  that  old  friend,  under  a 
debt  of  deep  gratitude  to  him,  was  placed  in  power.  Hugh  L. 
White,  the  Senator  from  Tennessee,  was,  in  fact,  more  than  any 
other  man  responsible  for  General  Jackson's  "  good  behavior" 
in  the  Presidency.  He  was  sincerely  a  true  and  devoted  friend 
of  General  Jackson,  and  writhed,  as  a  guardian  over  the  errors 
of  a  ward,  when  he  saw  him,  misled  by  mercenaries  and  aspirants, 
prostitute  his  power  to  his  passions  to  defeat  his  political  oppo 
nents,  and  allow  his  patronage  to  become  the  plunder  of  corrup 
tion.  No  honest  guardian  of  his  good  faith,  no  honest  partisan 
of  his  past  policy  and  profession  of  patriotic  principles,  could 
stand  this  violation  of  pledges  to  integrity  of  administration. 
No  man  had  ever  been  elected  so  distinctly  on  a  single  stand 
point  of  preference  as  General  Jackson  had  been  elected  against 
the  evil  example  of  "  bargain  and  corruption."  For  him  in 
turn  to  pursue  his  ambition  to  elect  his  successor  by  permitting 
corrupt  appliances  of  power  and  patronage,  was  especially  an 
unpardonable  error.  Every  friend  who  loved  "  Rome  more 
than  Caesar"  was  obliged  by  a  duty  to  the  country  to  oppose 
his  designs  and  the  means  by  which  he  was  promoting  them. 

His  cruel,  harsh,  and  unjust  policy  of  removing  the  Indians 
of  Georgia  west  of  the  Mississippi,  in  violation  of  the  most 
solemn  treaties  as  well  as  of  the  most  sacred  rights  of  humanity  ; 
his  mercenary  policy  of  administering  the  public  land  system ; 
his  removal  of  the  public  money  from  the  custody  of  the  law,  in 
favor  of  a  combination  of  State  pet  banks;  his  countenance  of 
the  use  of  the  money-power  of  those  banks  to  influence  the  State 
elections,  as  evidenced  by  the  "  wool-clip  letters"  of  Reuben  M. 
Whitney,  the  agent  of  the  Treasury  Department ;  his  violent 
disruption  of  the  pet  bank  system,  to  be  displaced  by  the  Sub- 
treasury  scheme  to  subject  all  revenue,  all  fiscal  control,  all 
currency,  all  circulating  medium,  all  exchange,  and  all  public 
and  private  credit  to  executive  dictation,  were  exertions  of 
power  and  evidences  of  purpose  but  too  obviously  intended  to 
elect  his  own*  successor,  and  were  not  to  be  countenanced  or 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  155 

tolerated  by  honest,  earnest  patriots,  however  closely  they  had 
been  allied  to  him  as  his  partisans  in  former  contests.  This 
threw  off  from  him  all  men  of  the  type  and  tone  of  Hugh 
Lawson  White,  though  it  bought  him  "spoilers"  enough  to 
more  than  make  up  in  numbers  at  the  elections  for  all  the 
honest  supporters  he  lost.  He  tried  all  his  most  winning 
arts  to  retain  Judge  White ;  but  the  latter  could  not  be  pre 
vailed  on  either  to  take  Van  Buren  as  a  choice  for  the  Presi 
dency,  or  to  countenance  the  example  of  a  President  electing 
his  successor.  He  could  not  but  see  that  the  example  was 
immoral  and  vicious  in  itself,  and  tended  to  destroy  the  in 
tegrity  of  government  and  the  liberties  of  the  people ;  that 
it  was  debasing  to  the  public  administration,  and  so  defiled 
all  popular  elections  as  to  destroy  their  freedom.  The  country 
could  not  be  safe  with  such  a  popular  idol  in  the  presidential 
chair.  It  was  threatening  enough,  and  more  than  dangerous 
enough,  in  the  hands  of  the  lion ;  but  how  low  and  how  mean 
would  it  become  in  the  hands  of  jackals  succeeding  !  The  lion 
would  never  prefer  a  lion,  —  he  always  preferred  the  lower 
brute  for  a  favorite  ;  and  the  lower  brute  was  not  fit  to  be 
king.  If  a  Jackson  might  elect  his  successor,  the  successor 
was  sure  not  to  be  a  lion, — he  was  naturally  obliged  to  be  a 
brute  of  a  less  noble  nature.  The  election  of  a  successor 
made  everything  bend  to  its  baneful  purpose,  and  all  the 
executive  departments  became  hideously  corrupt,  disordered, 
and  dangerous.  Good  men  of  all  sections  began  to  abandon  the 
administration  and  look  out  for  some  man  on  whom  to  unite 
in  opposition  to  succession  by  dictation  and  corruption. 

Unfortunately,  they  could  not  then  combine  on  any  one  man. 
Judge  White  could  not  be  nattered  to  support  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
and  then  threats  and  open  denunciations  were  resorted  to,  to 
prevent  him  from  allowing  his  name  to  be  used  as  that  of  a 
candidate  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Yan  Buren.  His  great  virtues 
had  called  attention  to  him  as  the  proper  candidate,  for  the  sake 
of  the  public  good  ;  but  there  were  aspirants  everywhere,  and 
their  partisans  could  not  or  would  not  unite.  Judge  White 
was  no  aspirant,  but  when  threats  were  used  to  intimidate  him, 


156  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

his  self-respect,  pride,  pluck,  and  patriotism,  all  combined  to 
make  him  accept  a  nomination  by  his  native  State,  Tennessee, 
in  the  month  of  October,  1835.  Mr.  Tyler's  name  was  placed 
upon  the  White  ticket  for  the  Y  ice-Presidency  in  1836  ;  and  the 
ticket  of  White  and  Tyler  carried  the  State  of  Tennessee  by  ten 
thousand  votes  in  that  year,  against  the  mace  of  Jackson  and 
the  strength  of  Locofocoism. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  was  elected,  but  the  glory  of  the  Jackson 
Democratic  Republican  party  had  departed,  and  the  party 
whose  motto  was,  "  To  the  victors  belong  the  spoils,"  rose,  to 
reign  but  one  term  in  the  Presidency. 

The  opposition  to  the  succession  could  not  be  organized  in 
1836 ;  but  the  moment  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  elected,  the  elements 
opposed  to  him  came  together,  casting  aside  all  past  political 
differences,  in  order  to  reprove  corruption  and  reform  the  admin 
istration  of  the  Federal  government.  Bank  and  anti-bank  men, 
tariff  and  anti-tariff  men,  internal  improvement  and  anti-internal 
improvement  men,  annexation  of  Texas  and  anti-annexation  of 
Texas  men,  pro-slavery  and  anti-slavery  men,  men  of  all  parties 
and  political  creeds,  saw  the  necessity  of  combining  simply  upon 
a  pure  and  patriotic  administration  of  the  government,  which 
would  guard  the  public  liberties  and  the  laws.  The  friends  of 
Judge  White  were  the  last  of  the  original  friends  of  General 
Jackson  of  1824  and  1828  who  came  out  from  the  Jackson 
party ;  but  they  were  still  Democratic  Republicans  in  both  the 
popular  and  the  State  Rights  sense  of  that  term,  as  they  had 
been  when  General  Jackson  was  first  elected.  The  question 
was,  whether  they  —  anti-bank  and  anti-protective  tariff,  anti- 
internal  improvement  by  the  Federal  government,  pro-annexa 
tion  of  Texas,  pro-slavery,  anti-Federal  and  anti-latitudinarian, 
pro-strict  construction  of  the  Constitution,  and  pro-State  Rights 
Democrats  of  the  Madisonian  school  —  could  unite  with  old 
Federalists,  and  all  their  extreme  opposites  in  political  faith, 
in  order  to  crush  the  Yan  Buren  party  of  "  spoils  and  corrup 
tion." 

The  first  two  years  of  maladministration  by  Mr.  Yan  Buren, 
from  March,  183T,  to  March,  1839,  determined  the  question  of 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  157 

union  or  division  among  men  of  all  political  creeds,  however 
variant  and  dissentient  in  their  principles.  They  were  obliged 
either  to  take  sides  with  open  corruption,  and  shamelessly  seek  a 
share  of  the  spoils,  or  else  to  compromise  honest  differences  of 
opinion  in  law  and  politics,  and  combine  to  save  the  country 
from  the  worst  dangers  of  maladministration,  the  effects  of 
corruption  and  decay. 

The  first  two  years  of  the  Yan  Buren  term  were  occupied 
in  bringing  the  odds  and  ends  of  old  parties  into  one  combined 
opposition  to  the  "spoils  party."  It  was  a  new  monster,  with 
out  any  principles,  and  of  the  worst  practices,  equally  odious 
to  all  old  parties,  however  they  may  have  been  opposed  to  one 
another  or  divided  among  themselves.  This  effort  at  entire 
reorganization  and  combination  of  old  parties  and  factious  made 
the  years  1838  and  1839  notable  in  political  history.  The  new 
name  of  Whigs,  a  generic  name,  was  then  for  the  first  time 
adopted  for  the  opposition. 

Mr.  Tyler  had,  in  1836,  retired  to  private  life,  and  dutifully 
labored  at  the  bar  for  the  support  of  a  large  family;  but  his 
fellow-citizens  of  Williamsburg  and  James  City,  where  his  resi 
dence  then  was,  would  not  permit  him  to  remain  in  private  life. 
In  1838  he  was  again  returned  a  delegate  to  the  legislature, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Delegates  when  the  elec 
tion  of  a  State  senator  in  Congress  recurred  in  the  session  of 
1838-39.  ; 

Mr.  William  C.  Rives  had  been  elected  for  the  unexpired 
portion  of  Mr.  Tyler's  term  when,  in  1836,  Mr.  Tyler  resigned 
his  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate.  The  re-election  of  Mr. 
Rives  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Tyler  now  came  up.  There  was  the 
second  to  Mr.  Benton,  one  of  the  most  obnoxious  instruments 
of  expunction,  arrayed  against  the  victim  of  expunction,  before 
a  legislature  in  which  Mr.  Tyler's  immediate  friends  had  the 
balance  of  power,  though  they  had  not  the  power  of  election. 

The  Van  Buren  faction  centered  on  Mr.  Rives,  and,  to  the 
surprise  of  Mr.  Tyler,  a  portion  of  the  Whigs  were  found 
to  back  his  opponents.  The  contest  continued  for  days  of 
stubborn  struggle  and  doubt.  The  wonder  \vas  why,  after 


158  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

thirty-eight  ballotings,  neither  could  be  elected,  and  the  won 
der  still  greater  was,  why  Whigs  should  vote  for  Mr.  Rives  1 
It  was  solved  at  Washington  City,  among  the  politicians  there. 
The  Whig  leaders  there,  Mr.  Clay  at  their  head,  had  coldly 
calculated  that  by  re-electing  Mr.  Rives  to  the  Senate,  even 
over  Mr.  Tyler,  they  could  make  him  their  own,  and  that  by 
his  strength,  added  to  that  of  the  Whig  party  in  Virginia,  they 
could  carry  that  State. 

Emissaries  were  sent  to  Richmond  by  the  Whig  leaders  at 
Washington,  to  carry  out  their  scheme  of  treachery  to  Mr. 
Tyler.  He  was  then  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Yan  Buren ;  as  an 
opponent  of  the  spoils  party,  he  had  been  instructed  out  of  his 
seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  because  of  his  refusal 
to  vote  to  desecrate  the  journal  of  the  Senate ;  Mr.  Rives  had 
been  found  willing  to  do  that  deed,  and  did  it ;  and  yet  two  years 
afterwards  the  Whigs  were  found  striving  to  re-elect  Mr.  Rives 
over  Mr.  Tyler, — the  instrument  of  expunction  over  its  victim  ! 

Mr.  Tyler  was  often  afterwards  denounced  by  the  Whigs  for 
various  acts  of  treachery,  but  no  one  act  with  which  his  ene 
mies  charged  him  would  have  equaled,  had  the  charge  been  true, 
this  treacherous  tergiversation  of  their  own.  They  were  fairly 
caught  in  the  act,  and  in  their  confusion  of  shame  at  the  detec 
tion,  they  agreed  that  if  Mr.  Tyler's  friends,  who  withheld  Mr. 
Rives's  election  by  the  legislature,  would  yield  his  re-election, 
Mr.  Tyler  should  be  nominated  on  the  Whig  ticket  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency.  That  was  the  secret  of  his  nomination  for  that 
office.  It  was  agreed  upon  as  early  as  1838-39. 

Mr.  Tyler's  friends,  who  had  thus  far  defeated  Mr.  Rives, 
would  not  consent  to  vote  for  him,  but  they  left  their  seats  at 
last,  and  lessened  the  number  of  votes,  so  that  a  majority  for  him 
was  obtained. 

Thus  was  Mr.  Rives  re-elected  to  the  Senate  after  expunc 
tion,  and  thus  was  Mr.  Tyler's  nomination  to  the  Vice-Presidency 
secured,  during  the  session  of  the  Virginia  legislature,  before 
the  nomination  of  President  and  Vice-President,  at  Harrisburg, 
in  1839.  The  particulars  of  that  intrigue  were  never  alluded 
to  at  the  time,  and  have  never  before  been  made  public. 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  159 

It  silently  worked  out  its  object  of  defeating  Mr.  Tyler,  but  it 
failed  to  effect  its  purpose  of  electing  Mr.  Rives  to  the  Senate, 
and  was  likely  to  damage  the  hopes  of  the  Opposition.  During 
the  ballotings  the  friends  of  Mr.  Tyler  discovered  the  design, 
and  were  indignant  at  the  attempt.  Judge  John  B.  Christian, 
the  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Tyler,  becoming  aware  of  the  Whig 
game,  wrote  to  a  friend  in  Congress,  inquiring  whether  it  could 
be  possibly  true  that  the  Whig  leaders  had  sent  their  emis 
saries  to  effect  such  a  purpose.  •  The  friend  immediately  ad 
dressed  himself  in  person  to  Mr.  Clay.  He  informed  him  of  the 
letter  and  of  the  inquiry.  At  first  he  declined  to  answer,  deny 
ing  his  responsibility  for  what  any  one  was  doing  at  Richmond 
in  the  matter  of  the  election  of  senator  from  Yirginia.  The 
friend  in  turn  declined  to  be  put  off  in  that  way.  He  told  him 
he  knew  that  the  report  had  already  reached  the  authors  of  the 
scheme ;  that  a  certain  influence  had  balked  its  success ;  that 
that  influence  would  continue  to  do  so  until  it  should  be  finally 
defeated  ;  that  the  design  to  defeat  Mr.  Tyler  by  the  election  of 
Mr.  Rives,  was  regarded  by  the  friends  of  the  former  as  the 
grossest  ingratitude  to  one  who  had  made  the  sacrifice  of  his 
seat  in  the  Senate  for  the  good  of  the  Opposition ;  that  the 
attempt  to  elect  Mr.  Rives  over  Mr.  Tyler,  in  view  of  the 
iniquity  of  expunction,  perpetrated  by  the  one  and  opposed  by 
the  other,  of  which  the  one  was  the  instrument  and  the  other 
the  victim,  was  a  breach  of  good  faith,  an  instance  of  corrup 
tion  ;  that,  if  it  should  be  effected,  it  would  be  at  the  expense 
of  the  Whig  party,  and  very  damaging  to  Mr.  Clay's  prospects 
for  the  Presidency ;  that  if  the  party  gained  any  friends  in 
consideration  of  Mr.  Rives's  election,  it  would  lose  more  in 
consideration  of  Mr.  Tyler's  defeat ;  and  if  he,  Mr.  Clay,  could 
not  explain  his  complicity  in  the  intrigue,  Mr.  Tyler's  friends 
should  be  informed  that  their  apprehensions  were  well  founded 
and  they  would  act  accordingly.  He  at  last  consented  to  enter 
into  explanations.  He  admitted  that  he  was  aware  of  the 
attempt  to  elect  Mr.  Rives ;  that  he  had  been  consulted  as  to 
the  policy  of  so  doing ;  that  he  had  said  that  he  preferred  Mr. 
Tyler's  election,  if  it  could  be  effected,  but  that,  if  the  party 


160  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE    UNION. 

could  not  elect  him,  it  would  be  politic,  under  the  circumstances, 
to  do  the  best  the  party  could,  to  take  Mr.  Rives,  or  any  other 
weapon  with  which  to  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent  of  Yan 
Burenism. 

The  friend  replied  that  the  attempt  to  elect  Mr.  Rives  on  this 
recommendation  had  alone  defeated  the  election  of  Mr.  Tyler ; 
that  it  would  cause  his  friends  to  unite  against  the  nomination 
of  him,  Mr.  Clay,  to  the  Presidency.  Mr.  Clay  said  that  it  was 
his  chief  desire  to  carry  Virginia  for  the  Opposition,  and  that  he, 
for  his  part,  would  prefer  to  be  defeated  for  the  Presidency  with 
the  vote  of  his  mother  State  in  his  favor,  to  success  with  her 
vote  against  him  ;  and  he  had  advised  the  election  of  Mr.  Rives 
only  in  the  event  that  it  would  be  most  conducive  to  carrying 
the  State  of  Virginia  for  the  Whig  party ;  and  if  Mr.  Tyler  could 
be  elected,  and  it  was  best  for  the  party,  he  preferred  him  to 
Mr.  Rives. 

This  was  noted  immediately  in  his  presence,  the  friend  com 
mencing  the  reply  to  Judge  Christian  whilst  sitting  by  Mr. 
Clay's  side,  and  writing  at  his  dictation.  When  the  letter  was 
finished  it  was  read  to  him,  and  he  approved  of  it,  and  from  his 
desk  it  was  taken  to  the  mail.  On  leaving  his  seat  the  friend 
said  to  him,  "  Remember,  Mr.  Clay,  this  is  your  statement,  not 
mine,  and  I  send  it  to  Judge  Christian  with  the  sole  motive  of 
saving  you  from  the  consequences  of  any  suspicion  that  you  are 
disposed  to  betray  Mr.  Tyler." 

He  expressed  an  earnest  desire  that  the  harmony  of  the  party 
should  not  be  disturbed,  but  he  was  told  that  he  would  be  held 
responsible  for  its  breach.  The  contest  still  went  on  at  Rich 
mond,  and  a  second  and  a  third  time  the  friend  of  Mr.  Tyler,  at 
Washington,  was  approached  with  the  request  to  advise  the 
election  of  Mr.  Rives. 

He  declined  again  and  again,  on  the  ground  that  the  sin  of 
expunction  was  unpardonable;  that  Mr.  Rives  had  allowed 
himself  to  be  its  tool,  and  had  driven  Mr.  Tyler  from  his 
seat  in  order  to  take  the  opportunity  of  perpetrating  a  gross 
and  degrading  violation  of  the  Constitution,  in  subserviency  to 
the  man-worship  of  Jackson  and  the  bullying  of  Benton.  At 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  161 

last  Mr.  Clay  and  others  appealed  in  such  urgent  terms  that 
they  were  told,  "  The  friends  of  Mr.  Tyler  will  never  consent  to 
the  re-election  of  Mr.  Rives,  the  tool  of  expunction,  over  Mr. 
Tyler,  its  victim,  until  the  party  of  the  Opposition  consents 
to  place  Mr.  Tyler  in  nomination  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  so 
that  he  may,  if  elected,  preside  over  his  expunging  opponent  in 
the  Senate." 

To  this  arrangement  Mr.  Clay  pledged  all  his  influence  and 
exertion,  and  immediately  the  friends  of  Mr.  Tyler,  at  Rich 
mond,  were  advised  to  stand  out  of  the  way  of  Mr.  Rives,  which 
they  did.  They  could  not  be  induced  to  vote  for  him,  but,  on 
the  calling  of  the  ballot  which  elected  him,  they  retired  from 
their  seats,  and  were  not  counted  on  the  ballot,  and  he  was  thus 
allowed  to  be  elected  by  a  bare  majority. 

Mr.  Clay  was  warned  at  the  time  that  he  was  agreeing  to  an 
arrangement  which  might  throw  him  out  of  the  nomination  for 
the  Presidency,  for  the  President  would  hardly  be  nominated 
from  Kentucky  if  the  Vice-President  were  chosen  from  Virginia ; 
but  at  that  time  he  was  not  so  sanguine  of  the  party's  uniting 
on  his  name,  and  if  it  did  so  unite,  he  knew  that  the  lesser 
would  certainly  be  made  subordinate  to  the  greater  nomina 
tion, — the  Vice-Presidency  to  the  Presidency.  But  Mr.  Tyler's 
friends  took  the  chances,  knowing  the  influences  at  work  against 
Mr.  Clay  himself.  Those  influences  developed  themselves  po 
tentially  in  the  succeeding  session  of  Congress,  in  1838-39. 

Mr.  Webster  was  undoubtedly  opposed  to  the  nomination  of 
Mr.  Clay,  and  his  influence  was  more  powerful  in  New  York 
than  it  was  in  New  England.  Clay's  reliance  was  on  the  West 
and  Northwest,  and  he  counted  for  success  upon  obtaining  the 
influence  of  Judge  White's  friends  in  Tennessee  and  Virginia. 
But  Judge  White  himself  might  still  be  a  candidate.  He  had 
been  run  for  the  Presidency,  in  1836,  against  his  wish ;  but, 
having  been  defeated  then,  he  might  deem  it  his  due  to  be  run 
again  when  there  was  a  chance  of  success.  Mr.  John  Bell,  the 
leader  of  the  White  and  Tyler  nomination  in  1836,  seeing  that 
there  was  no  probability  of  the  nomination  of  Judge  White,  was 
anxious  to  have  him  decline  in  order  to  make  way  for  his  support 

11 


162  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

of  Mr.  Clay.  No  one  knew  what  Judge  White  would  do  as  to  a 
nomination,  whether  he  desired  or  would  decline  it ;  or,  if  he 
declined  or  did  not  obtain  it,  whether  he  would  support  Mr. 
Clay.  We  were  at  the  time  living  at  the  same  house  with  Judge 
White,  and  proud  of  his  intimacy  and  confidence.  He  was  one 
of  the  best  judges  of  men  and  things  we  have  ever  known,  and 
one  of  the  purest  and  most  exalted  patriots  who  ever  served  his 
country,  always  unselfishly,  with  a  stern  virtue  and  the  strongest 
sense  of  duty,  uninfluenced  by  fear  or  favor,  but  ever  touched 
by  the  tenderest  devotion  and  affection.  He  was  grave,  taciturn, 
and  laborious,  always  conscientiously  exact,  strict,  and  precise, 
and  abhorred  every  form  of  deceit,  injustice,  or  want  of  ingenu 
ousness.  He  committed  himself  rarely  and  slowly,  but  once 
committed  he  was  immovable  as  a  rock  unless  convinced  of  a 
wrong,  and  was  wholly  inapproachable  by  any  indirection  or 
circumvention.  His  knowledge  of  the  intrigues  going  on  around 
him  was  inexplicable,  and  the  thoughtfulness  by  which  he  dis 
cerned  and  resolved  them  almost  awed  one  as  by  the  presence 
of  a  seer  whose  prophecies  were  certain  to  be  realized.  He 
was  very  thin,  tall,  and  ghostly  in  appearance,  but  was  physi 
cally  very  sinewy  and  strong,  and  had  immense  capacity  for 
labor.  His  eyes  were  a  clear  blue,  but  small,  and  so  deep- 
set  that  when  he  drew  his  brows  over  them  in  thought  or  con 
versation  they  looked  like  black  diamonds,  scintillating  various 
sparkling  lights  ;  and  his  lips  were  so  compressed  that  he  wore 
an  appearance  not  only  of  firmness  but  also  of  constant  restraint 
and  self-command.  He  was  always  terribly  in  earnest,  yet  at 
times  enjoyed  humor,  such  as  that  of  the  inimitable  Baillie 
Peyton,  and  when  he  did  smile,  which  was  seldom,  it  was  the 
sweetest  smile  we  ever  caught  from  lip  or  cheek  of  man.  He 
was  a  great  and  good  man,  without  fear  and  without  reproach. 
One  evening  in  the  session  of  1838-39  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr. 
Bell  called  upon  us  at  our  room  and  at  once  opened  upon  their 
desire  and  purpose  to  ascertain  whether  Judge  White  expected 
to  be  nominated  again  for  the  Presidency,  and  if  not,  whether 
he  would  support  Mr.  Clay,  or  whom  he  would  support.  They 
said  they  came  to  us  because  we  had  better  access  to  him  on 


THE   FIFTH  DECADE.  163 

that  subject  than  any  of  his  colleagues,  who  desired  not  to  seem 
as  presuming  even  that  he  would  not  permit  his  name  again  to 
be  used.  They  all  loved  him,  preferred  him  to  any  other  living 
man,  but  knew  he  could  not  be  nominated,  and  therefore  they 
felt  great  delicacy  in  approaching  him  on  the  subject.  Mr.  Clay 
desired  to  know  his  views,  and,  above  all,  desired  to  have  his 
influence.  We  told  him  that  there  was  but  one  way  proper  in 
which  to  approach  Judge  White.  It  was  useless  to  attempt  it 
by  indirection,  or  by  any  circumlocution  or  circumvention.  He 
had  to  be  approached  with  the  naivete  of  a  little  child :  one 
would  have  to  go,  as  it  were,  to  his  knee,  look  up  in  his  ven 
erable  face,  with  truth  and  innocence  on  one's  brow,  and  say, 
"  Judge  White,  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Bell  requested  me  to  ask, 
Will  you  please  stand  out  of  Mr.  Clay's  way  and  give  him  your 
influence  for  the  Presidency  ?" 

Mr.  Clay  laughed  heartily,  and  said  that  he  believed  honesty 
was  the  best  policy  with  Judge  White,  and  he  left  it  to  us  to 
take  our  own  way ;  he  was  certain  it  would  not  be  like  that  of 
any  one  else.  He  was  reminded  that  Judge  White  was  not  to 
be  treated  like  any  other  man  ;  that  if  diplomacy  was  attempted 
with  him,  he  was  so  godlike  in  wisdom  and  so  instinct  with  virtue 
that  he  would  divine  one's  own  thoughts  before  fully  fit  for  his 
inspection  ;  and  that  if  any  arts  of  address  were  used  with  him, 
he  would  give  a  look  which  no  one  would  wish  to  meet,  but  not 
a  word  would  be  got  from  him.  We  would  see  him  at  their 
instance,  and  report  in  due  time. 

After  tea  one  evening  succeeding  this  interview,  Judge  White 
had  retired  to  his  room  ;  we  tapped  at  his  door,  and  were  at 
once  admitted.  He  was  at  his  table,  as  usual,  arranging  his 
papers  for  the  night's  labors,  but  laid  everything  aside  upon 
our  entrance,  and,  without  equivoque  or  reserve,  we  told  him 
at  once  the  object  of  our  visit.  His  face  had  at  times  very 
singular  expressions.  Whenever  his  attention  was  suddenly 
arrested  by  some  important  matter  new  to  him,  presenting  new 
aspects,  or  revealing  fully  some  suspected  facts  or  truths, 
there  would  be,  involuntarily  as  it  were,  a  slow  contraction 
of  his  brow,  a  close  compression  of  his  lips,  and  a  rapid  work- 


164  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

ing  of  his  nasal  muscles  and  nostrils,  with  a  hard  and  audible 
rapid  breathing.  He  heard  us  through,  as  he  always  did  every 
body,  and  quickly  this  singular  expression  came  over  his  coun 
tenance,  and  he  sat  breathing  and  musing  in  silence.  We  rose 
after  a  few  moments,  saying  that,  having  discharged  our  mis 
sion,  we  would  retire.  He  immediately  arose,  took  us  by  the 
hand,  and  said,  warmly,  that  we  could  not  have  done  him  a 
greater  political  favor  ;  and  Mrs.  White,  his  good,  kind  wife, 
remarkable  for  her  discernment,  dignity,  and  good  sense,  stepped 
to  the  door  and  added  her  especial  thanks. 

We  left  him  to  his  own  reflections,  confident  that  they  would 
be  wise  and  prudent ;  and  in  a  few  days  our  confidence  in  him 
was  confirmed.  He  came,  after  taking  his  own  time,  to  our 
room,  and  there  and  then  explained  his  past  course  and  mo 
tives,  reviewed  the  then  current  political  events,  disclosed  his 
own  purposes  and  resolutions,  discussed  the  politics  and  pros 
pects  of  every  probable  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and 
opened  a  vista  of  prophecy  for  twenty-five  years  of  the  future  of 
the  United  States,  which  has  since  been  so  surprisingly  fulfilled 
that  we  never  think  of  him  and  of  that  conference  without 
wonder.  He  reminded  us  how  he  had  been  compelled,  by  the 
dictation  of  General  Jackson  as  to  his  successor,  to  allow  his 
name  to  be  used  for  the  presidential  nomination  in  the  year 
1836.  He  had  never  desired  the  nomination,  but  had  been 
obliged  to  accept  it,  in  order  to  resist  dictation  and  to  meet  the 
charge  that  he  was  misrepresenting  his  State  and  her  people  in 
opposing  Mr.  Yan  Buren. 

He  had  run,  in  fact,  for  Tennessee  alone,  and  Tennessee  had 
amply  vindicated  his  course  against  every  appeal  and  appliance 
of  Andrew  Jackson  himself.  That  was  sufficient  for  him,  and  he 
claimed  no  more.  He  said  that  he  knew  too  well  the  aspirations 
and  machinations  of  men  and  parties  and  factions  at  Washing 
ton,  and  the  probability  of  events,  not  to  know  that  he  had  no 
chance  for  another  nomination,  but  that  even  if  the  chances  for 
it  were  good,  or  the  best,  he  had  no  desire  for  the  Presidency. 
That  he  was  then  an  aged  man,  had  lost  many  of  the  most 
precious  objects  of  life,  was  trying  to  make  his  latter  days  like 


THE  FIFTH  DECADE.  165 

those  of  a  Christian  about  to  depart  to  a  better  world,  had  no 
longer  any  aspirations  in  this  world  but  to  see  his  country  re 
main  free  and  prosperous,  preferred  retirement,  and  was  pre 
paring  to  die  in  peace,  and  he  must  not  be  deemed  or  suspected 
as  in  the  way  of  any  aspirant.  That  was  the  solution  of  the 
first  problem, — he  would  not  again  accept  a  nomination  for  the 
Presidency.  As  to  whom  he  preferred  and  would  give  his  in 
fluence  to,  that  was  another  question.  His  own  political  opinions 
were  well  known  to  all ;  they  were  those  of  a  long  lifetime,  uni 
formly  held  and  carried  into  practice  in  conspicuous  places, 
State  and  Federal,  of  a  protracted  public  service.  They  were 
consistently  and  persistently  Democratic  Republican,  of  the 
Jefferson  and  Madison  school ;  State  Rights  and  the  Constitu 
tion  strictly  construed,  limited  Federal  powers  for  the  common 
purposes  of  the  Union,  prohibitions  of  certain  powers  to  be  sternly 
observed,  and  popular  sovereignty  guarded  by  constitutional  laws 
were  cardinal  points  of  faith  with  him ;  and  the  good  of  the  whole 
country  was  or  should  be  the  chief  end  of  every  patriot.  Party 
ends  were  chief  ends  of  mere  partisans.  He  was  no  partisan. 
There  was  no  man  likely  to  get  the  nomination  of  the  Opposi 
tion  with  whom  he  agreed  in  political  opinions.  He  named 
several  spoken  of,  and  said  there  were  several  for  whom  he 
might  be  compelled  to  vote,  as  opposed  to  Mr.  Tan  Buren. 
He  abhorred  him  above  all  pretenders,  who  based  his  claim 
upon  the  spoils  of  party,  victory,  and  patronage,  upon  ap 
pointments  to  office,  and  upon  jobs  to  favorites.  He  named 
Mr.  Webster,  and  regretted  the  jealousies  rankling  between 
him  and  Mr.  Clay ;  then  Mr.  Clay,  General  Scott,  and  General 
Harrison ;  saying  that  the  latter  would  get  the  nomination, 
and  proceeding  to  state  his  reasons  for  the  prediction. 

He  first  disclosed  to  us  what  was  afterwards  called  the 
"  Triangular  Correspondence."  New  York  would  control  the 
nomination,  and  the  cards  in  that  State  were  already  stocked. 

C ,  residing  in   Rochester,  S ,  residing  in  Utica,  and 

T ,  residing  in  the  city  of  New  York,  were  to  write  to  one 

another  from  the  three  great  sections  of  the  State  during  the 
preliminary  and  primary  State  nominations.    C.  to  S.  and  T. : — 


166  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

"  Do  all  you  can  for  Mr.  Clay  in  your  district,  for  I  arn  sorry  to 
say  that  he  has  no  strength  in  this  ;"  S.  to  C.  and  T.,  the  same  ; 
T.  to  C.  and  S.,  the  same  ;  each  a  professed  friend  of  Mr.  Clay, 
and  each  to  be  sorry  for  his  having  no  chance  in  his  district. 

District  A  was  for  Clay,  but  the  letters  from  B  and  C  would 
show  he  had  no  chance  in  them.  District  B  was  for  Clay,  but 
the  letters  from  A  and  C  would  show  he  had  no  chance  in 
them.  District  C  was  for  Clay,  but  the  letters  from  A  and  B 
would  show  he  had  no  chance  in  them.  A  then  would  say, 
"  It  is  useless  for  us  to  send  delegates  favorable  to  Mr.  Clay, 
for  he  has  no  strength  in  B  and  C."  B  would  say  the  same, 
"for  he  has  no  strength  in  A  and  C."  C  would  say  the  same, 
"for  he  has  no  strength  in  A  and  B." 

Thus  districts  or  sections  all  favorable  to  Mr.  Clay  were 
made  to  elect  delegates  who  were  opposed  to  his  nomination. 
By  this  contrivance  Mr.  Webster's  friends  were  to  obtain  dele 
gates  in  favor  of  General  Scott,  who  was  to  be  made  the  cat's- 
paw  to  defeat  Mr.  Clay.  But  Judge  White  further  predicted 
that  this,  whilst  it  would  defeat  Mr.  Clay's  nomination,  would 
also  defeat  General  Scott's.  Scott  in  this  way  would  get  the 
votes  of  the  New  York  delegation,  and  this  would  bring  down 
upon  him  the  indignation  of  the  friends  of  Clay. 

Thus  Clay  and  Scott  would  both  be  defeated,  and  a  tertium 
quid,  General  Harrison,  would  probably  be  the  nominee,  and 
be  elected.  Judge  White  begged  us  to  make  Mr.  Clay  understand 
and  guard  against  this  ingenious  machination.  He  warned  him 
also  through  us  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  checkmate  this  plot 
of  the  New  York  cabal,  by  having  the  primary  nominations 
made  early  in  the  summer  of  1838,  as  the  Triangular  Corre 
spondence  needed  time,  and  would  therefore  urge  an  excuse  for 
postponement  until  after  the  Pennsylvania  elections  in  the  fall 
of  that  year.  But  he  said  the  warning  would  be  idle,  for  the 
arrangements  of  Mr.  Clay  were  already  intrusted  to  parties  who 
were  co-operating  with  the  plans  of  his  enemies,  and  of  this  he 
could  not  be  warned,  because  he  could  not  be  made  to  distrust 
certain  of  his  professed  friends.  The  primary  nominations  would 
be  postponed,  and  his  nomination  would  therefore  be  defeated. 


THE  FIFTH   DECADE.  167 

He  regretted  this,  because  he  preferred  Mr.  Clay  to  any  of  the 
others  named,  yet  he  could  not  commit  himself  to  his  support,  so 
wide  apart  were  they  in  politics,  unless  Mr.  Clay  would  consent 
to  a  practical  concurrence  with  him  on  certain  cardinal  points  in 
opposition  to  his  heresies  of  theory.  He  said  the  word  "  Whig" 
was  a  generic  term,  that  it  was  adopted  expressly  to  embrace  men 
of  all  political  opinions, — Democrats  and  Federalists,  National 
Republicans  and  old  Jackson  men  of  1824  and  1828,  bank  men 
and  anti-bank  men,  protective  and  anti-protective  tariff  men, 
pro-  and  anti-internal  improvement  men,  pro-  and  anti-distribu 
tion  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  pro-  and 
anti-annexation  of  Texas,  pro-  and  anti-slavery  men.  If  Mr.  Clay, 
whatever  might  be  his  abstract  opinions  as  to  the  powers  of  Con 
gress  on  these  cardinal  points,  would  agree  to  a  practical  course 
upon  them,  he  could  and  would  support  him  ;  otherwise  he 
would  not,  unless  compelled  by  the  necessity  of  a  choice  of 
evils.  At  all  events,  whether  he  (Judge  White)  could  support 
him  or  not  at  the  election,  he  would  give  him  his  influence  for 
the  Whig  nomination  over  any  of  his  known  and  probable 
rivals.  He  illustrated  his  meaning  of  practical  concurrence  on 
various  subjects  of  theoretical  differences  between  them.  A 
United  States  Bank  to  be  chartered  by  Congress,  he  said,  was 
a  settled  question.  Practically  it  should  be  considered  defunct 
until  the  changes  of  time  or  of  popular  opinion  should  demand 
a  recharter.  That  the  government  was  obliged  to  have  a  fiscal 
agent  was  true,  but  it  wras  not  obliged  to  have  this  form  of 
agency.  The  Treasury  Department  could  itself  be  organized 
to  perform  its  own  functions  of  fisc,  and  currency  could  be 
regulated  by  laws,  indisputable  in  respect  to  gold  and  silver 
and  their  representatives  of  private  and  public  credit,  and  the 
relations  of  local  State  banks  could  be  so  modified  as  to  sub 
serve  exchange.  A  national  bank  in  any  form  was  necessarily 
either  a  danger  of  great  magnitude  or  a  useless  contrivance, 
a  King  Stork  or  a  King  Log.  It  would  naturally  and  there 
after  forever  be  either  a  pet  power  or  an  ally  of  an  Executive, 
and  a  great  curse  united  with  a  popular  and  unscrupulous 
President ;  or  it  would  be  an  antagonist  of  the  Executive  and 


168  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

have  to  be  so  cautious  of  a  conflict  as  to  be  wholly  inefficient. 
Credit,  private  or  public,  was  a  sensitive  hot-house  plant  which 
could  not  sustain  the  storms  of  party  and  political  strife,  and 
ought  never  to  be  exposed  to  them  if  it  was  possible  to  avoid 
its  exposure.  It  ought  to  be  organized  independent  of  party 
politics  and  their  conflicts.  For  the  Whigs  to  recharter  the 
then  late  United  States  Bank  would  be  to  bring  it  directly 
into  the  whirlpool  of  party  conflict.  If  united  with  the  new 
Executive,  it  would  be  corrupting  and  dangerous,  and  if 
Executive  power  were  arrayed  against  it,  it  would  be  made 
useless,  as  the  then  late  conflict  of  Jackson  with  the  bank 
had  proved.  True  wisdom,  then,  as  well  as  party  policy, 
required  that  the  Whigs  should  treat  the  bank  issue  as  dead, 
at  all  events  for  the  next  presidential  term,  and  for  the  future 
it  should  be  "  left  to  the  arbitrament  of  enlightened  public 
opinion." 

On  the  subject  of  the  tariff,  he  said  that  the  only  pledge  he 
required  of  Mr.  Clay  was  to  adhere  to  his  own  plan  of  the 
Compromise  Bill  of  1832-33,  to  gradually  reduce  the  duties  on 
protected  articles,  and  to  approach  as  near  as  practicable  to 
a  revenue  standard,  by  laying  the  duties  on  the  unprotected 
articles. 

On  the  subject  of  internal  improvements  by  the  general  govern 
ment,  he  demanded  that  appropriations  should  cease.  The  friends 
in  Congress  of  internal  improvements  had  urged  appropriations 
for  them  originally,  —  first,  to  aid  the  Territories;  secondly, 
to  stimulate  the  States  to  construct  their  own  public  works. 
There  was  no  dissension  as  to  the  power  of  aiding  the  Territo 
ries,  and  the  States  had  been  so  stimulated  to  construct  their  re 
spective  works,  that  they  had  run  into  two  hundred  millions  of 
State  debts.  Policy  required  a  pause  until  a  future  time,  when 
the  national  and  State  debts  should  be  largely  reduced,  if  not 
extinguished. 

He  utterly  repudiated  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
sales  of  the  public  lands.  They  should  be  made  the  safety  fund 
to  keep  the  army  and  navy  in  continual  preparation  against 
foreign  war  or  domestic  insurrection  and  rebellion,  and  to  leave 


THE  FIFTH   DECADE.  169 

no  pretext  for  rate  of  duties  and  imposts  which  would  be  be 
yond  any  legitimate  purposes  of  revenue. 

The  annexation  of  Texas  had  been  avoided  during  the  ad 
ministration  of  Mr.  Yan  Buren,  and  Mr.  Clay  had  already 
declared  against  the  acquisition  of  any  more  territory.  Judge 
White  required  a  pledge  on  that  subject,  with  a  view  to  preserve 
the  balance  of  power  in  the  Union  between  the  North  and  the 
South  in  respect  to  slavery. 

As  to  slavery,  he  trusted  to  Mr.  Clay's  known  views  and  his 
being  a  senator  of  a  slave  State.  He  knew  he  would  oppose 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  would 
do  his  utmost  to  pacify  the  agitation  of  the  whole  subject  of 
abolition.  He  required  pledges  on  five  cardinal  points  only, 
and  said  that  though  Mr.  Clay  was  a  latitudinarian  and  the 
great  leader  of  the  American  system,  yet,  if  he  would  commit 
himself  to  a  practical  course  on  the  subjects  named,  he  would 
give  him  his  influence  for  the  nomination  and  for  his  election. 

This  conference  was  fully  and  faithfully  reported  by  us  to  Mr. 
Clay,  and  he  did  distinctly  make  the  pledges  required  of  him  by 
Judge  White.  He  emphatically  indorsed  his  views  in  respect 
to  the  recharter  of  the  United  States  Bank,  the  tariff  for  protec 
tion,  and  the  subject  of  internal  improvements. 

This,  in  turn,  was  reported  to  Judge  White,  and  he  then 
urged  the  importance  of  having  a  Democratic  Republican  and 
Strict  Construction  candidate  put  upon  the  ticket  of  the  Vice- 
Presidency,  as  the  Vice-President  might  have  the  casting  vote 
of  the  Senate.  John  Tyler  was  the  man  he  preferred  ;  he  had 
been  consistent  throughout  his  whole  life  ;  had  been  nominated 
on  the  ticket  with  him  in  1836;  had  been  expunged  from  the 
Senate;  and  the  pledge  had  already  been  made  to  place  his 
name  on  the  ticket  for  the  Vice-Presidency  in  order  to  elect  Mr. 
Rives  to  the  Senate  in  1838. 

Alas !  already  the  same  fate  was  ordained  for  Judge  White 
himself.  He  had  offered  his  resignation  to  the  Governor  of 
Tennessee  in  the  fall  of  1838  on  account  of  bad  health,  but  it 
was  refused.  The  legislature  of  Tennessee  became  Locofoco 
in  the  winter  of  1839,  and  at  once  set  about  instructing  Judge 


170  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

White  out  of  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  They  passed  certain  in 
structions  to  him,  and  among  others  was  one  to  vote  in  favor 
of  the  "Sub-Treasury."  At  once  he  responded  in  a  letter,  of 
September  5,  1839,  characterized  by  his  purity  and  wisdom, 
and  causing  them  to  immolate  him  on  the  altar  of  party  sacri 
fice.  On  the  13th  of  January,  1840,  the  Sub-Treasury  bill  was 
called  up  in  the  Senate,  when  Judge  White  addressed  the  Senate 
in  his  own  vindication  and  read  his  letter  of  reply  to  the  legis 
lature  of  Tennessee.  It  is  a  master-piece  of  calm  logic,  and 
honest,  proud  defense ;  and  when  its  reading  was  finished  he 
bade  the  Senate  a  feeling  and  dignified  farewell.  He  followed 
Mr.  Tyler's  example  ;  he  could  not  obey,  but  recognized  the 
right  of  instruction,  and  resigned.  Thus  the  nation  lost  its 
highest  exemplar  of  wisdom,  honesty,  and  purity  in  public 
service  ;  and  on  the  17th  of  January,  1840,  a  large  concourse 
of  senators,  representatives,  and  private  citizens  manifested 
their  sense  of  his  worth  and  of  the  Senate's  loss  by  a  dinner 
given  him  in  Washington  City  as  a  last  mark  of  affectionate 
respect. 

In  his  speech  at  that  dinner  he  confirmed  what  we  have  here 
related.  His  predictions  had  been  fulfilled.  The  Triangular 
Correspondence  had  been  successful:  the  convention  to  nominate 
a  President  and  Vice-President  had  been  postponed  until  after 
the  Pennsylvania  elections ;  the  friends  of  Mr.  Webster  had 
used  General  Scott's  name  to  defeat  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Clay,  and  General  Scott's  nomination  was  defeated  in  turn  by 
that  of  General  Harrison,  in  the  fall  of  1839.  Mr.  Clay  had 
been  fully  warned  of  the  machinations  to  defeat  him,  and  would 
not  give  credence  to  the  friendly  caution.  He  would  hardly 
credit  the  device  and  its  success  to  the  last.  In  the  very  hour 
of  his  defeat  he  was  sitting  in  a  room  at  Brown's  Hotel,  anx 
iously  waiting  to  hear  of  his  nomination.  He  made  most  singu 
lar  exhibitions  of  himself  in  that  moment  of  ardent  expectancy. 

He  was  open  and  exceedingly  profane  in  his  denunciations  of 
the  intriguers  against  his  nomination.  We  had  taken  two  Whig 
friends  of  our  district  to  see  him  ;  and  after  they  had  sat  some 
time  listening  to  him,  in  utter  surprise  at  his  remarks,  full  of 


THE  FIFTH   DECADE  1Y1 

the  most  impudent,  coarse  crimination  of  others,  in  words  be 
fitting  only  a  bar-room  in  vulgar  broil,  of  a  sudden  he  stopped, 
and  turning  to  the  two  gentlemen,  who  were  dressed  in  black 
and  both  strangers  to  him,  he  said,  "But,  gentlemen,  for  aught 
I  know,  from  your  cloth  you  may  be  parsons,  and  shocked  at 
my  words.  Let  us  take  a  glass  of  wine."  And,  rising  from  his 
seat,  he  walked  to  a  well-loaded  sideboard,  at  which,  evidently, 
he  had  been  imbibing  deeply  before  we  entered. 

Thereupon  we  bowed  and  took  leave.  One  of  the  gentlemen, 
after  retiring,  remarked,  "  That  man  can  never  be  my  political 
idol  again;"  and  from  that  time  to  this  he  has  ceased  to  admire 
him.  In  a  short  time  after  that  he  (Mr.  Clay)  went  across  the 
Avenue  to  the  parlor  of  his  boarding-house,  where  he  awaited 
the  arrival  of  two  of  his  personal  friends,  on  the  night  of  the 
nomination  at  Harrisburg,  to  bring  him  the  news  of  the  final 
proceedings  and  choice  of  the  Whig  Convention. 

We  went  to  the  depot  and  got  the  intelligence  of  the  nomina 
tion  of  General  Harrison  and  Mr.  Tyler,  and  hastened  back  to 
him  w^ith  the  news.  Such  an  exhibition  we  never  witnessed 
before,  and  we  pray  never  again  to  witness  such  an  ebullition 
of  passion,  such  a  storm  of  desperation  and  curses.  He  rose  from 
his  chair,  and,  walking  backwards  and  forwards  rapidly,  lifting 
his  feet  like  a  horse  string-halted  in  both  legs,  stamped  his  steps 
upon  the  floor,  exclaiming,  "My  friends  are  not  worth  the 
powder  and  shot  it  would  take  to  kill  them  !"  He  mentioned 
the  names  of  several,  invoking  upon  them  the  most  horrid  im 
precations,  and  then,  turning  to  us,  approached  rapidly,  and 
stopping  before  us,  with  violent  gesture  and  Liud  voice,  said, 
"  If  there  were  two  Henry  Clays,  one  of  them  would  make  the 
other  President  of  the  United  States  !" 

Trying  to  bring  him  to  his  senses,  we  replied,  "If  there  were 
two  Henry  Clays,  the  continent  would  not  be  large  enough  to 
hold  them,  and  they  would  not  leave  a  morsel  of  each  other ; 
they  would  mutually  destroy  themselves.  You  were  warned 
by  Judge  White  of  this  result,  when  it  muht  have  been  pre 
vented,  but  you  would  not  ta  e  heed!" 

"  Ah,  yes,"  said  he  ;  "  you  and  my  old  fi  iend  Judge  White 


172  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

are  like  the  old  lady  'who  knew  the  cow  would  eat  up  the 
grindstone.'  It  is  a  diabolical  intrigue,  I  now  know,  which  has 
betrayed  me.  I  am  the  most  unfortunate  man  in  the  history  of 
parties :  always  run  by  my  friends  when  sure  to  be  defeated, 
and  now  betrayed  for  a  nomination  when  I,  or  any  one,  would 
be  sure  of  an  election." 

From  that  time  forward,  through  the  sessions  of  '39,  '40,  '41, 
'42,  '43,  '44,  as  long  as  we  remained  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  up  to  February,  1844,  Mr.  Clay  was  excessively  in 
temperate  in  his  habits,  and  more  intemperate  in  exacerbation 
of  temper  and  in  his  political  conduct.  His  scene  with  General 
Scott  at  a  whist-table  in  Boulanger's  restaurant,  and  with  Mr. 
Choate  in  the  Senate-chamber,  were  but  instances  of  his  des 
peration  and  of  his  spite  towards  those  who  had  defeated  his 
nomination.  He  at  times  was  inapproachable  by  his  friends, 
and  his  foes  chuckled  at  his  self-immolation.  At  once  there 
arose  an  implacable  war,  open  and  declared,  between  him  and 
Mr.  Webster.  That  enmity  divided  the  Whig  party  into  two 
factions,  on  no  difference  of  opinion  or  principles  at  all,  but 
purely  on  personal  preferences  and  partisan  predilections.  Mr. 
Webster,  it  was  thought  by  Mr.  Clay's  friends,  was  paving  his 
way  for  the  succession  to  General  Harrison,  and  it  was  obvious 
that  Mr.  Webster  was  to  have  the  control  of  General  Harrison's 
administration. 

The  defeat  of  Mr.  Clay  and-  the  nomination  of  General  Har 
rison  by  Mr.  Webster's  friends,  at  Harrisburg,  determined  that 
programme  of  the  Whig  party,  even  before  the  election  in  the 
fall  of  1840,  and  certainly  before  the  inauguration  of  the  Presi 
dent  elect  in  the  spring  of  1841. 

We  must  not  forget  the  two  great  strides  of  the  physical  in 
this  marked  decade,  from  1830  to  1840, — the  Telegraph  of 
Morse,  and  the  "Marine  Catapulta"  of  Commodore  James 
Barren,  in  1836,  from  the  model  of  which  the  idea  of  the 
"  beaked  iron-clad  Virginia"  was  derived. 

We  presided  over  the  Committee  of  Naval  Affairs  in  the 
room  at  the  Capitol,  in  which  Morse  had  his  battery  and  his 
isolated  wire  to  demonstrate  his  discovery,  and  where  Barron 


THE   FIFTH  DECADE.  173 

exhibited  his  model  of  the  Catapulta.  From  that  model  we, 
in  1861,  from  "  Rolliston,"  in  the  county  of  Princess  Anne,  Vir 
ginia,  suggested  to  General  Lee,  by  letter,  the  plan  of  an  invul 
nerable  floating  battery,  from  which  the  Merrimack  was  con 
verted  into  the  Virginia.  They  both  have  proved  how  mind 
can  make  one  material  monster  overcome  and  destroy  another 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE    SIXTH   DECADE,  FROM   184O    TO   185O. 

Campaign  of  1840 — Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too — Personations  of  the  Divisions 
of  the  Whig  Party — Tyler's  expressed  Opinions  during  the  Canvass — Dis 
memberment  of  the  Whig  Party  before  General  Harrison's  Inauguration — 
General  Harrison's  Health  and  Death — Scenes  at  Washington  City — Harri 
son's  Cabinet— "Tyler  too"  President— What  he  had  to  do— The  Harrison 
Cabinet  retained — Mr.  Tyler's  Speech  as  Vice-President — His  "Address  to 
the  People  of  the  United  States,"  and  his  First  Message— Fiscal  Bank— Veto 
— Fiscal  Corporation — Ewing's  Bill — Mr.  Clay's  Pledges  broken — Why — 
The  Ewing,  Sergeant,  and  Berrien  Committee's  Interview  with  Mr.  Tyler — 
Mr.  Rives's  Plan  of  evading  Constitutional  Scruples — Mr.  Clay's  Object  to 
force  a  Veto — Veto  Second — Mr.  Tyler's  Integrity  assailed — His  Firmness — 
Conditions  of  Peace  tendered  to  him — Mr.  Clay  inexorable — Congress  im 
placable — The  Harrison  Cabinet  dissolved — Mr.  Webster  remains  with  his 
Credentials  in  Favor  of  Mr.  Tyler — Disposition  to  deprive  Mr.  Tyler  of  a 
Cabinet  by  not  confirming  any  of  his  Nominees — The  First  Tyler  Cabinet. 

THE  political  campaign  of  1840  was  in  all  respects  the  most 
memorable  ever  known  to  party  annals  in  this  country.  The 
eclat  of  General  Jackson's  name  made  Mr.  Yan  Buren's  elec 
tion,  but  could  not  maintain  his  administration  ;  it  was  crushed 
by  its  corruption,  and  the  commingling  of  all  elements  of  the 
Opposition.  Democratic  and  National  Republicans,  Federalists 
and  State  Rights  partisans,  strict  constructionists  and  latitudi- 
narians,  Jackson  men  and  Adams  men,  Clay  men  and  Calhoun 
men, — all,  in  a  word,  united  under  the  motto  of  "  The  union  of 
the  Whigs  for  the  sake  of  the  Union,"  and  made,  in  the  language 
of  the  celebrated  orator  of  Baltimore,  John  Y.  L.  McMahon,  a 
perfect  "avalanche  of  the  people." 

The  enthusiasm  attending  the  reception  of  Lafayette  in  Balti 
more  in  1824  was  not  greater  than  that  attending  the  Conven 
tion  in  1840  of  that  city  to  ratify  the  nomination  of  "  Tippecanoe 
(174) 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  175 

and  Tyler  too."  Raccoon-skins,  and  log  cabins  with  the  latch- 
strings  out,  were  carried  in  procession  through  the  land,  and 
General  Harrison  was  elected  overwhelmingly  by  a  feu  de  joie! 
But  Mr.  Clay,  like  Achilles,  retired  to  his  tent.  He  chafed  under 
the  preference  over  him  of  a  military  chieftain.  It  was  not  a 
military  chieftain  who  was  preferred,  but  Mr.  Webster's  will 
had  prevailed  against  him.  But  the  feeling  and  causes  which 
operated  in  1840  were  not  like  those  which  had  operated  pre 
viously  in  making  Richard  M.  Johnson  Yice-President ;  it  was 
not  a  Pop  Emmons  argument  of — 

"Rumpsey,  Dumpsey, 
Colonel  Johnson  killed  Tecumseh." 

The  feeling  was  of  a  sound  moral  tone,  and  the  leading  men 
of  all  sects  and  sections,  and  the  intelligence  of  the  country, 
united  to  reform  abuses-  of  government  and  to  crush  corruption. 
The  motto  for  every  flag  was, — 

"  Tippecanoe ! 
And  Tyler  too !" 

And  in  this  there  was  a  pointed  meaning,  intended  and  ex 
pressed.  General  Harrison  was  denounced  by  some  as  a  Fed 
eralist,  who  favored  broad  and  unlimited  powers  in  the  Federal 
government,  and  for  the  preference  of  partisans  of  that  faith  he 
was  proposed ;  but  John  Tyler  was  known  to  be  a  Democrat 
and  Strict  Constructionist  of  the  straitest  sect,  and  to  men  of 
that  faith  he  was  proposed.  In  other  words,  the  ticket  was 
expressly  intended  for 

"National  Republicans  in  Tippecanoe, 
And  Democratic  Republicans  in  Tyler  too." 

This  was  known  to  all  well-informed  politicians. 

Mr.  Tyler  was  put  into  the  Vice-Presidency  by  the  friends 
of  State  Rights  and  strict  construction,  avowedly  for  the 
purpose  of  casting  any  tie  vote  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  in  their  favor.  During  the  canvass  of  1840  his  op 
ponents  in  the  North,  hoping  to  injure  his  ticket  in  Pennsyl- 


SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

vania,  addressed  to  him  calls  for  his  avowals,  and  he  made  them 
without  reserve  when  he  could  do  so  with  proper  self-respect ; 
and  if  any  of  his  opinions  were  withheld  from  the  public  they 
were  not  withheld  by  himself,  but  by  the  leading  counselors 
of  the  Whig-  party  at  Washington  City,  and  they  withheld 
them  on  the  ground  that  his  opinions  were  universally  known 
to  the  party  and  the  country  to  be  Democratic  Republican  and 
that  the  calls  for  them  were  in  bad  faith,  not  to  found  con 
clusions  upon,  but  to  array  votes  against  him.  His  opinions 
were  fully  known  at  the  Harrisburg  Convention,  by  men  who 
were  acquainted  with  the  whole  course  and  tenor  of  his  long 
political  career.  He  did  not  commit  himself  to  a  Federal 
party  or  Federal  opinions  by  accepting  the  nomination,  but 
the  Whig  party  committed  itself  to  Democratic  principles  and 
selected  a  Democrat  to  guard  them.  Even  General  Harrison 
had  denied  the  charge  of  Federalism  brought  against  himself, 
and  pledged  himself  to  strict  construction,  especially  on  the 
Bank  question.* 

In  1822  and  in  1836,  General  Harrison,  in  his  speeches  in 
the  Cincinnati  district,  in  a  letter  to  Judge  Berrien,  and  in  a 
speech  at  Yincennes,  had  fully  expressed  his  political  opinions  ; 
and  during  the  canvass  of  1840,  his  speech  at  Dayton  and  his 
letter  to  Sherrod  Williams  committed  him  to  Democratic  meas 
ures  and  to  strict  construction  of  the  Constitution  as  to  the 
bank,  a  protective  tariff,  the  expediency  of  internal  improve 
ments  by  the  Federal  government,  and  the  veto.  As  to  Mr. 
Tyler's  part,  he  was  too  thoroughly  committed  by  the  whole  of 
his  political  course  to  be  doubted  ;  but  he  was  interrogated  with 
scrutinizing  opposition,  and  in  every  possible  form  referred  to 
his  votes  from  1812  to  1813,  and  from  1832  to  1840,  on  the 
right  of  instruction  and  the  duty  of  obedience,  on  the  bank  and 
veto,  on  his  casting  vote  in  the  Senate  upon  the  latter  question, 
on  a  protective  tariff,  internal  improvement,  and  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  In  his  reply  to  certain 
citizens  of  Henrico  County,  Virginia,  Tilmon  E.  Jeter,  Philip 

*  See  chapter  viii.  of  his  Life,  by  Abell. 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  Iff 

Mayo,  and  others,  dated  October  16,  1840,  he  was  explicit  in 
adhering  to  his  past  course  of  opposition  to  those  measures  by 
the  Federal  government.  These  answers  were  repeated  in  his 
published  letter  of  the  5th  of  October,  1840,  saying  in  relation 
to  the  bank,  "  My  opinion  of  the  power  of  Congress  to  charter  a 
bank  remains  unchanged"  (from  opinions  acted  upon  by  him  in 
1819  and  in  1832).  Again,  in  a  letter  to  Democratic  citizens 
of  Pittsburg,  he  reiterated  his  unyielding  opposition  to  the  re- 
charter  of  the  bank.  He  wrote,  during  the  session  of  1839-40, 
from  Williamsburg,  saying  that  a  meeting  of  the  Democrats  of 
Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  had  demanded  of  him  whether  he 
would  in  any  event  sanction  the  incorporation  of  a  United 
States  Bank.  He  inclosed  their  proceedings  and  resolutions, 
and  also  his  reply,  to  Washington  City,  with  instructions  to 
submit  his  reply  to  the  leading  members  of  the  Whig  party,  for 
them  to  determine  whether  it  should  be  forwarded  and  published 
or  not.  After  examining  the  right  of  all  citizens  to  call  for  his 
sentiments  on  public  questions,  and  claiming  that  the  object  of 
such  calls  should  always  be  to  cause  the  electors  to  cast  their 
votes  intelligently,  by  enlightening  them  as  to  the  true  opinions 
of  candidates,  he  expressed  the  opinion  which  he  ever  enter 
tained,  "that  a  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  unconstitutional," 
and  declared  that  he  would  not  sanction  the  incorporation  of  one 
without  an  alteration  of  the  Constitution.  He  then  emphatically 
asked  whether,  if  these  were  their  own  sentiments,  they  would 
maintain  them  by  voting  for  him  at  the  polls,  or  whether  it  was 
their  object  to  divide  the  Whig  party  by  publishing  them  to  the 
country. 

This  reply  was  submitted  to  the  leading  Whigs  in  Congress, 
and  they  decided  that  it  would  be  impolitic  to  publish  it;  that 
Mr.  Tyler's  opinions  were  already  too  well  known,  through  his 
speeches  and  votes,  to  need  a  response,  and  that  it  would  be  un 
wise  to  array  them  directly  against  the  opinions  of  many  Whigs, 
perhaps  a  majority  of  the  party,  who  were  in  favor  of  a  bank. 

Thus  the  leaders  of  the  Whig  party  confessed  their  scien- 
ter  of  what  his  course  would  be,  and  decided  that  his  opinions 
were  too  well  known  to  leave  a  pretext  for  the  charge  that 

12 


H8  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

he  had  practiced  any  concealment  or  deception.  This  was  after 
the  nomination  and  before  the  election.  The  Whig  leaders  all 
knew  what  he  would  do.  But  a  large  portion  of  the  Whig 
party,  especially  the  Whig  State  Convention  in  Virginia,  pro 
claimed,  in  their  address  at  Richmond,  the  exact  opinions  of 
Democracy, — State  Rights,  strict  construction,  anti-bank  and 
anti-internal  improvement  and  anti-protective  tariff,  and  out-and- 
out  the  Democratic  Republican  tenets, — and  pledged  General 
Harrison  as  well  as  Mr.  Tyler  to  their  profession  of  political  faith. 
Mr.  James  Lyons,  an  eminent  lawyer,  and  a  visitor  of  William 
and  Mary,  now  living,  was  the  author  of  the  address  of  the 
Whig  Convention  of  1840;  and  that  address  speaks  for  itself. 

Thus  the  opinions  of  Mr.  Tyler  were  well  and  fully  known  to 
be  those  of  his  whole  past  life,  and  the  Whig  party,  so  far  as  he 
was  concerned,  indorsed  them  by  the  Whig  Convention  and  by 
the  election  in  1840.  There  was  no  rational  pretext,  no  moral 
excuse  whatever,  for  accusing  him  afterwards  of  treachery  to 
the  party  in  being  true  to  himself  and  his  ever-cherished  Demo 
cratic  principles.  The  party,  on  the  contrary,  was  treacherous 
to  him,  but,  instead  of  crushing  him,  became  divided  against 
itself,  and  hllfelo  de  se. 

The  election  of  1840,  we  repeat,  was  decisive;  it  overwhelmed 
Yan  Burenism  and  the  spoils ;  but  then  immediately  the  vic 
torious  party  became  dismembered.  It  had  in  itself  the  seeds 
of  destruction.  It  was  composed,  as  we  have  seen,  originally  of 
men  of  every  shade  of  political  opinion,  and  the  old  Federal 
element  of  National  Republicanism,  the  Adams  and  Clay  Whigs, 
being  in  the  majority,  thought  it  had  the  right  to  dictate  and 
prescribe  the  principles  and  policy  of  the  administration.  But 
the  men  who  composed  that  element  were  divided  into  the  Clay 
and  Webster  factions.  Mr.  Webster  was  willing  to  abide  by  the 
status  of  the  Opposition  before  the  nomination  and  election,  but 
Mr.  Clay  was  bent  on  pressing  upon  him  the  extreme  measures 
of  the  National  Republican  school, — bank,  tariff,  and  all.  This 
was  the  motive  of  the  war  at  first :  it  was  aimed  at  Mr.  Webster 
rather  than  at  Mr.  Tyler.  As  Mr.  Clay  was  not  nominated,  he 
seemed  to  consider  himself  absolved  from  all  the  committals  he 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  If9 

had  made  to  Judge  White ;  and  whether  he  so  considered  him 
self  or  not,  or  was  so  absolved  or  not,  he  certainly  violated  all 
committals  he  had  made  practically  to  adhere  to  the  Democratic 
policy  and  principles.  Judge  White's  speech  at  the  dinner  given 
him,  on  his  retirement  from  the  Senate,  at  Washington,  January 
17,  1840,  alluded  to  these  pledges  of  Mr.  Clay  in  a  way  which 
he  and  we  understood  perfectly  well.  Judge  White  then  said, 
"  Since  the  respective  parties  have  agreed  upon  their  candidates 
(Van  Buren  and  General  Harrison),  I  have,  among  you,  said 
nothing  as  to  whom  I  should  prefer.  Upon  this  subject  I  do 
not  wish  to  be  non-committal.  Neither  of  the  gentlemen  named 
would  have  been  my  choice.  I  would  greatly  have  preferred  the 
distinguished  gentleman  from  Kentucky  now  near  me."  (Mr. 
Clay  bowed  ;  the  whole  company  arose  as  by  one  impulse,  and 
gave  three  deafening  cheers.  Judge  White  proceeded  :  "  Upon 
some  subjects  he  and  I  did  not  agree ;  but  upon  some  points  I 
disagree  with  the  present  chief  magistrate  also.  Most  of  these 
points  have  now  ceased  to  be  practical.  Upon  the  great  subjects 
now  practical  I  coincide  heartily  with  that  gentleman  (Mr.  Clay), 
and  disagree  with  the  present  incumbent.  Had  he  continued  a 
candidate,  I  would  have  given  him  a  cordial  support." 

Mr.  Clay  himself  knew  to  what  Judge  White  alluded  in  these 
remarks,  and  so  did  we,  as  has  already  been  explained.  He  had 
committed  himself  in  limine  to  the  principles  proclaimed  in  the 
Whig  address  of  Virginia,  drafted  by  Mr.  Lyons.  Practically, 
he  himself,  if  he  had  been  nominated,  was  to  have  been  "  anti- 
bank"  and  Democratic.  But,  defeated  for  the  nomination,  he 
thought  himself  again  free  to  press  upon  his  adversaries  imprac 
ticable  issues,  and  the  blows  which  he  aimed  at  Mr.  Webster 
were  caught  on  the  bosses  of  the  buckler  of  John  Tyler. 

After  the  election  in  1840,  the  disjecta  membra  of  the  Whig 
party  rushed  pell-mell  to  Washington,  every  man  with  a  rac 
coon's  tail  in  his  hat,  and  tugged  at  the  string  of  the  latch,  out 
at  the  White  House  door,  as  if  sure  enough  it  was  a  log  cabin. 

General  Harrison  himself  got  to  the  capital  some  months 
before  his  inauguration,  and  it  cost  him  his  life.  He  was  very 
infirm,  and  the  excitement  was  too  great  for  him.  He  yielded 


180  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

to  the  "  vulgar  crowd,"  was  elated  by  their  pressure  upon  him, 
and  literally  sank  under  a  total  derangement  of  his  nervous 
system. 

Mr.  Tazewell,  of  Norfolk,  had  predicted  the  event  of  his  death, 
playfully  commenting  upon  the  unparalleled  luck  of  Mr.  Tyler ; 
but  sadly  he  might  have  foreseen  the  speedy  fulfillment  of  his 
prophecy  if  he  had  been  in  Washington  a  week  after  General 
Harrison's  arrival  there.  He  would  have  seen  him  in  a  high 
state  of  exaltation,  and  agitated  to  a  degree  which  could  not 
but  break  him  down  physically  and  mentally.  We  witnessed 
scenes  at  and  before  the  inauguration  of  1841  which  it  is  to  be 
hoped  will  never  be  described  by  either  biography  or  history. 

The  mode  of  forming  the  Cabinet  made  some  shocking  reve 
lations,  and,  in  one  of  the  scenes  which  brought  us  into  imme 
diate  contact  with  General  Harrison  and  the  delegations  in 
Congress  from  the  Southeastern  States,  it  was  our  duty  to  keep 
a  diary  and  make  a  report,  which  shall  never  be  published, 
touching  the  appointments  in  General  Harrison's  Cabinet. 

The  signs  of  the  dismemberment  of  the  Whig  party  were 
apparent,  and  ought  to  have  warned  it  not  to  ride  like  a  beggar 
who  had  just  got  a  horse  to  ride.  We  urged  the  party  watch 
word  of  the  "  Union  of  the  Whigs  for  the  sake  of  the  Union." 
But  no;  they  were  then  in  power  by  a  hurrah  of  the  people; 
they,  the  old-line  Whigs  or  National  Republicans  of  Adams 
and  Clay,  had  a  majority  of  the  party,  ruled  the  caucus,  the 
caucus  should  rule  the  party,  and  the  party  should  rule  the 
country!  This  rallied  the  State  Rights  men  and  Democrats  of 
the  party,  of  whom  Mr.  Tyler  was  one,  and  we  prepared  to 
resist  the  rush  of  the  host  of  Federalism  which  we  saw 
thronging  around  the  new  President.  Heaven  saved  him 
from  the  fate  of  Acteeon ;  for,  had  he  lived  until  Congress 
met,  he  would  have  been  devoured  by  the  divided  pack  of  his 
own  dogs. 

He  was  inaugurated  on  the  4th  of  March,  1841,  and  one 
month  thereafter,  on  the  4th  of  April,  he  was  a  corpse,  dying 
"full  of  years  and  full  of  honors."  The  Tippecanoe  part  was 
gone,  but  the  "  Tyler  too"  part  of  the  Whig  party  was,  by  the  act 


v  THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  181 

of  God,  left  in  power.  The  party  was  pledged  to  "  Tyler  too,"  but 
time  showed  how  its  leaders  kept  their  faith  to  him  and  made 
good  their  professions  before  the  election.  They  scouted  their 
own  proclamations  and  programmes  ;  the  majority  of  the  party 
turned  to  the  Federalism  of  National  Republicanism,  and  de 
manded  that  Mr.  Tyler  should  desert  his  lifelong  faith  of  De 
mocracy  and  strict  construction,  and  sanction  both  a  national 
bank  and  a  protective  tariff,  and  a  wilder  system  of  internal 
improvements  than  had  ever  before  been  dreamed  of,  until  the 
Northwest  got  so  strong  that  no  party  could  offer  resistance  to 
its  demoralizing  clamor  for  appropriations  of  the  public  lands. 
Traitorous  to  their  own  nomination,  traitorous  to  Mr.  Tyler,  with 
a  full  scienter  of  what  he  was  pledged  to  do  both  before  and  after 
his  nomination  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  the  very  moment  that 
ho  became  President  they  forced  upon  him  measures  which  they 
knew  he  could  not  conscientiously  or  consistently  sanction,  and 
then  cried  out,  "  Traitor  !  traitor !"  But  we  are  anticipating. 

Immediately  after  the  inauguration  of  General  Harrison  we 
had  gone  home  to  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia.  At  the 
Northampton  Circuit  Court  we  heard  of  the  death  of  General 
Harrison,  and  immediately  hurried  to  Washington. 

Mr.  Tyler  needed  counsel  as  to  the  dangers  which  environed 
him.  The  most  momentous  questions  of  public  policy  were 
coming  upon  the  administration;  the  Cabinet  had  not  been 
appointed  by  himself,  was  not  intimate  with  his  own  political  or 
personal  views,  and  was  divided  against  itself.  The  great  North 
eastern  question  threatened  our  relations  with  Great  Britain  ; 
the  question  of  annexing  Texas  was  fast  approaching;  the  ques 
tion  of  land  distribution  was  up  for  consideration;  fiscal  relations 
had  to  be  newly  formed;  daily  the  subject  of  abolition  became 
more  and  more  threatening;  and  not  only  was  the  Cabinet 
divided  between  the  Webster  and  the  Clay  faction,  but  it  was 
too  clear  not  to  be  guarded  against  that  Mr.  Tyler's  Democratic 
Republican  sentiments  were  necessarily  to  be  brought  into  col 
lision  with  the  Federalism  of  the  majority  of  the  Whig  party. 
He  was  advised  at  once  to  form  a  new  Cabinet,  to  hasten  a  set 
tlement  with  Great  Britain,  and,  with  that  view,  to  retain  Mr. 


182  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

Webster  at  the  head  of  the  new  Cabinet,  to  annex  Texas  as  soon 
as  possible,  to  veto  any  recharter  of  a  United  States  Bank,  any 
tariff  for  protection,  and  any  bill  for  the  distribution  of  the  pro 
ceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  public  lands.  He  concurred  in  every 
proposition  except  that  of  dismissing  the  then  existing  Cabinet. 
He  was  told  that  he  would  be  obliged  to  do  it  at  last,  and  that 
it  would  be  most  peaceful  and  politic  to  do  it  at  once.  But  his 
disposition  was  always  for  conciliation,  and  he  dreaded  to  offend 
any  one  as  much  as  Uncle  Toby  did  to  hurt  a  fly.  He  endeav 
ored  to  win  the  Cabinet  by  giving  its  members  his  confidence, 
forgetting  that  one  half  of  it,  for  Mr.  Clay,  was  watching  the 
other  half,  for  Mr.  Webster.  The  Cabinet  could  not  have  been 
kept  together  in  harmony  under  General  Harrison  had  he  lived. 
But  it  was  retained  by  Mr.  Tyler,  and  the  apprehended  conse 
quences  followed. 

On  the  17th  of  March,  1841,  General  Harrison  had  issued  a 
proclamation  convening  Congress  on  the  31st  of  the  following 
May,  to  consider  sundry  weighty  and  important  matters,  "prin 
cipally  growing  out  of  the  condition  of  the  revenue  and  finances 
of  the  country." 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1841,  Mr.  Tyler,  as  Yice-President, 
appeared,  qualified,  and  took  his  seat  as  President  of  the  Senate, 
and  in  the  address  which  he  uttered  was  heard  distinct  and 
clear  the  ring  of  the  old  Democratic  faith  which  he  and  his  father 
before  him  had  ever  cherished.  His  definition  of  the  true  con- 
servatorial  character  of  the  Senate,  and  of  the  duties  devolving 
upon  it  under  the  Constitution,  as  the  representative  of  States, 
to  carry  out  their  sovereign  will  by  which  the  Federal  govern 
ment  had  been  spoken  into  existence, — the  equality  of  States  in 
this  Confederacy,  "guardians  of  the  institutions  established  by 
the  fathers  against  popular  impulse  or  executive  encroachments, 
holding  the  balance  in  which  are  weighed  the  powers  conceded 
to  the  Federal  government  and  the  rights  reserved  to  the  States 
and  the  people," — his  prophecy  that  if  ever  faction  should 
seize  the  Senate,  and  it  should  forget  its  duties,  "  then  would 
our  political  institutions  be  made  to  topple  to  their  foundations," 
— and  his  appeal  for  "liberty  intrenched  in  safety  behind  the 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  183 

sacred  ramparts  of  the  Constitution," — all  showed  to  which  part 
of  the  Whig  party  he  belonged,  and  that  in  becoming  a  Whig 
?n  opposition  to  Yan  Burenism  he  had  not  ceased  to  be  what  he 
had  ever  been,  a  Democratic,  Strict  Construction,  State  Rights, 
Constitution-loving  Republican.  His  very  first  effort  was  an 
appeal  against  Federalism  and  for  a  faithful  adherence  to  the 
Constitution,  and  he  had  repeatedly  spoken  and  voted  against 
violating  the  Constitution  by  chartering  a  Bank  of  the  United 
States.  Thus  he  was  committed  from  first  to  last  in  his 
political  course,  when,  by  the  act  of  God,  he  was  called  to 
take  the  Presidency.  And  thus  committed  to  principles,  and 
placed  in  power,  he  met  the  Congress.  Before  the  Congress 
assembled,  he  had  published  an  "Address  to  the  People  of  the 
United  States."  He  appealed  to  them  to  sustain  the  "  wisdom 
and  sufficiency  of  our  institutions  under  the  new  test"  of 
the  office  of  President  for  the  first  time  devolved  upon  a  Yice 
President. 

It  was  an  opportunity  for  faction  to  operate  and  effect  great 
mischief,  and  he  pledged  himself  to  the  people  "understandingly 
to  carry  out  the  principles  of  that  Constitution  which  he  had 
sworn  to  protect,  preserve,  and  defend."  He  would  guard  against 
the  concentration  of  power  in  his  hands,  and  preserve  a  "  com 
plete  separation  between  the  sword  and  the  purse"  of  the  nation. 
He  deprecated  the  patronage  of  office  to  control  and  keep  the 
public  moneys  in  the  hands  of  the  Executive.  He  deprecated 
also  a  public  debt  in  time  of  peace,  and  urged  economy  in  the 
public  expenditure,  with  a  view  to  the  smallest  revenue  to  be 
exacted  by  taxation  only  for  objects  of  absolute  usefulness  and 
necessity.  He  urged  that  all  war  between  the  government  and 
the  currency  of  the  country  should  cease.  He  declared  his 
opposition  to  the  then  existing  measures  of  finance,  the  Sub- 
Treasury,  and  recommended  their  repeal.  He  promised  his 
sanction  to  "  any  constitutional  measure  which,  originating  in 
Congress,  should  have  for  its  object  the  restoration  of  a  sound 
circulating  medium,"  but  suggested  no  measure  of  his  own, 
because  he  thought  financial  and  fiscal  measures  should  origi 
nate  in  the  Congress.  At  the  same  time,  he  expressly  warned 


184  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

the  people  and  the  Congress  that  "  in  deciding  upon  the  adap 
tation  of  any  such  measure  to  the  end  proposed,  as  well  as  its 
conformity  to  the  Constitution,  he  would  resort  to  the  fathers 
of  the  great  Republican  school  for  advice  and  instruction  to  be 
drawn  from  their  sage  views  of  our  system  of  government  and 
the  light  of  their  ever-glorious  example." 

This  was  directly  saying  that  he  would  not  sanction  a  bank 
charter. 

Every  one  knew  what  were  the  doctrines  of  "the  fathers  of 
the  great  Republican  school,"  what  he  had  said  and  voted 
during  a  long  congressional  and  legislative  career,  and  what 
he  had  published  and  repressed  before  and  during  the  canvass 
for  the  Presidency.  To  demand  of  him  to  sign  a  United  States 
Bank  charter  was  to  ask  him  to  sacrifice  the  symmetrical  con 
sistency  of  his  whole  public  life,  violate  every  pledge  which 
he  had  made  to  the  people,  and  break  the  oath  which  he  had 
taken  to  "  protect,  preserve,  and  defend"  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  Yet  the  Whig  leaders,  knowing  all  this, 
did  make  that  demand  upon  his  conscience  and  self-respect, 
and  cried  out,  "  Traitor  !  traitor  !"  upon  him,  because  he  would 
not  consent  to  be  forsworn  I 

Not  only  did  his  address  to  the  Senate  and  his  address 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States  indicate  a  veto  of  any 
United  States  Bank  charter,  but  his  first  message  to  Congress, 
June  1,  1841,  disclosed  expressly  his  antagonism  to  a  United 
States  Bank,  to  the  State  banks,  and  to  the  Sub-Treasury, 
each  and  all,  as  fiscal  agents  of  the  government.  As  to  the 
first,  he  distinctly  informed  Congress  that  he  regarded  the  people 
as  having  sustained  the  veto  ;  as  to  the  second,  it  had  signally 
failed ;  and  as  to  the  third,  the  very  last  election  by  the  people 
had  decided  that  it  should  be  overthrown  and  something  better4 
than  either  system  be  substituted  by  Congress.  What  that 
substitute  should  be,  must  be  left  to  Congress,  as  belonging  to 
the  legislative  province. 

He  promised  to  concur  in  such  a  system  as  Congress  might 
propose,  "expressly  reserving  to  himself,  however,  the  ultimate 
power  of  rejecting  any  measure  which  might,  in  his  view  of  it, 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  185 

conflict  with,  the  Constitution,  or  otherwise  jeopard  the  pros 
perity  of  the  country;  a  power  which  he  could  not  part  with 
even  if  he  would,  but  which  he  would  not  believe  any  act  of 
Congress  would  call  into  requisition." 

Thus  warned,  and  thus  appealed  to,  not  to  press  any  measure 
upon  his  power  to  veto,  the  Congress  held  the  cup  of  a  "  fiscal 
bank"  to  his  lips,  and  endeavored  to  make  him  drink  its  very 
dregs,  and,  failing  in  that,  made  him  endure  all  the  bitterness 
of  unjust  and  unmitigated  abuse  for  exercising  a  virtuous  con 
stancy  with  a  Roman  firmness,  which  should  have  excited  naught 
but  respect  and  admiration. 

But  there  was  a  double  mistake  made  in  respect  to  the  char 
acter  of  the  man.  One  faction  of  his  enemies,  really  desiring  a 
bank  charter,  supposed  he  was  wanting  in  nerve,  and  that  he 
would  be  afraid  .to  meet  the  odium  of  those  of  his  party  who 
clamored  for  a  bank ;  and  the  other  faction,  Mr.  Clay  at  its  head, 
fearing  that  he  might  succeed  in  having  submitted  to  him  a 
constitutional  measure  to  manage  the  fisc,  the  currency,  and  the 
revenue  better  than  any  system  yet  tried,  and  that  he  might 
be  a  favorite  in  the  election  of  1844,  were  determined  to  extort 
from  him  a  veto  of  a  United  States  Bank  charter,  in  order  to 
make  him  odious  to  a  majority  of  the  Whigs.  And  if  they  did 
not  fear  the  rivalry  of  Mr.  Tyler,  they  did  fear  that  of  the  chief  of 
his  Cabinet,  Mr.  Webster.  They  were  afraid  of  one  or  both  ;  and 
therefore  Mr.  Clay  chose  to  forget  his  pledge  to  Judge  White, 
to  "  abide  by  the  arbitrament  of  an  enlightened  public  opinion," 
which  had  signally  sustained  General  Jackson's  veto  of  a  United 
States  Bank  charter. 

Mr.  Tyler  had  submitted  the  measure  to  Congress,  and  the 
Senate  called  upon  Mr.  Evving.  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
to  present  a  plan  by  means  of  which  the  fiscal  concerns  of  gov 
ernment  might  be  managed  and  the  currency  of  the  country 
regulated.  Mr.  Tyler  had  submitted  no  plan  of  his  own  to  Con 
gress,  for  the  reasons  already  stated,  but  formed  a  general  out 
line  of  a  measure  which,  while  restricted  to  the  special  purposes 
of  the  fisc,  would,  without  being  a  bank  with  power  of  discount, 
regulate  the  exchange,  check  the  over-issuing  of  the  State  bank- 


186  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

ing  system,  regulate  currency,  and  protect  the  public  credit  and 
finances  and  revenue  against  the  dreaded  fluctuations  and 
shocks  of  the  money-market  and  of  commerce  ;  and  this  plan 
was  within  the  powers  expressly  granted  of  coining  money  and 
regulating  the  value  thereof,  and  of  regulating  commerce  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  foreign  nations,  and  between  the 
several  States.  In  a  word,  his  idea  was  that  of  an  exchequer,  of 
purely  governmental  use  and  purpose  of  the  fisc  and  of  revenue, 
incidentally  only  regulating  the  standard  of  value  for  private 
and  individual  trade  and  commerce.  These  views  he  presented 
to  Mr.  Ewing,  who  faithfully  consulted  the  President,  the  Cabi 
net,  and  the  best  minds  in  the  Congress  and  in  the  country. 
He  presented  his  plan,  which,  however  it  may  have  been  objec 
tionable  to  Mr.  Tyler,  was  never  fairly  considered.  It  wras 
smothered  in  a  committee,  and  a  charter  for  a  national  bank, 
under  the  name  and  style  of  a  "  Federal  Bank,"  was  passed,  and 
vetoed  by  the  President.  The  veto  treated  the  measure  as  one 
proposing  the  recharter  of  the  United  States  Bank.  Mr.  Clay 
had  obtained  the  desired  veto,  and  sought  to  adjourn  and  make 
up  the  issue  of  bank  or  no  bank;  but  the  devotees  of  the  re- 
charter  of  the  bank  resisted  his  movements,  and  endeavored  to 
circumvent  the  President's  objections  by  another  mode  of  dis 
guising  their  favorite  measure. 

They  called  the  thing  by  another  name,  that  of  "  Fiscal  Cor 
poration,"  and  affected  to  make  it  conform  to  an  exchequer, — to 
something  created  by  government  for  its  own  uses  alone,  those 
of  finance  and  revenue.  Every  attempt  was  made  to  persuade 
and  drive  Mr.  Tyler  into  the  sanction  of  this  modification.  They 
rated  his  intellect  so  low  as  to  suppose  that  the  name  "bank" 
was  his  dread,  and  that  his  scruples  might  be  overcome  by  adopt 
ing  the  term  "  corporation" — not  regarding  the  distinction  as  a 
weight  against  their  wishes.  The  power  of  incorporation  was 
the  very  power  which  he  denied.  The  government  might  act 
by  officers,  appointed  or  elected,  or  by  agents  already  created  or 
existing,  or  might  exercise  its  legitimate,  granted  powers  by 
them;  but  could  it  create  agencies  to  combine  political  powers 
and  uses  with  individual  and  private  powers  and  uses  ?  That 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  1ST 

was  what,  from  the  first  Cabinet  of  Washington,  had  been  de 
bated  between  statesmen,  down  to  the  year  1841. 

Thus,  relying  upon  Mr.  Tyler's  supposed  softness  and  pliancy, 
tb3  name  of  "  Fiscal  Corporation"  was  adopted  by  the  friends 
of  the  bank  in  this  last  effort  to  obtain  a  charter.  So  far  as 
constitutional  principles  were  concerned,  there  was,  in  fact,  no 
difference  between  the  two  measures.  A  caucus  committee 
of  several  eminent  men,  among  whom  were  Mr.  John  Sergeant, 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  Mr.  Berrien,  of  the  Senate, 
was  appointed  to  confer  with  Mr.  Ewing,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  and  with  the  President,  on  this  measure. 

In  the  mean  time  Mr.  Rives,  who  had  sustained  Mr.  Tyler's 
first  veto,  brought  his  influence  to  bear  upon  the  consideration 
of  the  second  or  Fiscal  Corporation  bill.  Mr.  Rives  had  formed 
a  theory  of  creating  a  bank  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  under 
the  local  power  of  Congress  over  the  district,  making  it  the 
central  and  controlling  depository  of  the  public  money,  and 
enabling  it  to  exercise  all  the  influence  of  the  other  plans  upon 
exchange  and  currency,  on  the  principle  settled  in  the  case  of 
the  Bank  of  Augusta  (Ga.)  against  Earle. 

His  arguments  and  persuasions  for  awhile  staggered  Mr. 
Tyler,  so  far  as  to  cause  the  President  to  call  some  select  friends 
to  meet  Mr.  Rives  in  conference  with  him  as  to  Mr.  Rives's  plan 
of  gratifying  the  Whigs  by  a  measure  reconcilable  with  consti 
tutional  requirements. 

Mr.  Rives  was  exceedingly  cautious  in  opening  his  views  at 
this  conference,  but  at  last  gradually  explained  them  fully  before 
any  remark  was  made  or  any  objection  was  urged  against  them. 
Mr.  Tyler  was  strongly  impressed  by  the  ingenious  plan  of  Mr. 
Rives  ;  and  this  occurring  at  the  time  when  Mr.  Ewing,  Mr. 
Sergeant,  and  Mr.  Berrien  were  waiting  upon  the  President  to 
ascertain  how,  if  at  all,  the  first  bill  might  be  remodeled  and 
modified  into  a  second  which  would  obtain  his  sanction,  the 
President  did  attempt  to  reconcile  the  plan  of  Mr.  Rives  with 
that  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  as  changed  by  Mr.  Ser 
geant.  It  was  at  this  precise  juncture  that  the  misunder- 
etanding  occurred  between  Mr.  Tyler  on  the  one  part,  and  Mr. 


188  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

Ewing,  Mr.  Sergeant,  and  Mr.  Berrien  on  the  other  part,  as  to 
what  modifications  would  meet  the  President's  approval.  This 
result  was  apprehended,  from  what  was  known  of  the  bill  drafted 
by  Mr.  Sergeant  and  of  the  plan  of  Mr.  Rives.  We  knew  that 
the  President  would  submit  for  consideration  by  the  Whig  com 
mittee  the  compromising  modifications  suggested  by  Mr.  Rives, 
and  that  they  could  not  be  reconciled  with  scruples  as  to  the 
power  of  Congress  to  incorporate  a  bank.  It  was  not  a  question 
of  mere  "  discount  and  deposit,"  but  one  of  constitutional  power 
of  incorporation  ;  and  a  "  fiscal  corporation"  was  a  very  different 
thing  from  a  local  bank  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  with  the 
resulting  power  of  exchange.  As  soon  as  the  committee  left, 
Mr.  Tyler  communicated  to  us  the  result  of  his  interview  with 
them, — Messrs.  Ewing,  Sergeant,  and  Berrien.  He  informed 
us  that  he  had  submitted  to  them  certain  modifications,  founded 
on  the  suggestions  of  Mr.  Rives,  and  that  they  were  to  draw  a 
bill  in  conformity  thereto,  and  to  submit  the  draft  to  him,  as  a 
plan  of  compromise.  We  assured  him  that  such  was  not  the 
understanding  of  Mr.  Sergeant ;  his  idea  was  that  the  Presi 
dent  would  be  content  with  much  less  modification  than  that 
which  he  really  intended.  Mr.  Sergeant,  who  had  charge  of 
the  second  bill,  would  insist  on  the  power  of  incorporating 
banking  privileges  coextensive  with  the  United  States ;  and 
with  that  as  a  foundation  principle,  he,  the  President,  notwith 
standing  the  details  of  modifications,  would  at  last  be  called 
on  to  yield  his  scruples  as  to  the  constitutional  power  of  Con 
gress  to  create  a  bank.  The  President  was  surprised  that  any 
one  who  had  conferred  with  him  could  mistake  his  views  or  re 
solves  in  respect  to  the  question  of  power.  We  assured  him 
that  the  Whig  leaders  were  determined  to  have  the  power  con 
ceded  by  him,  or  to  force  upon  him  the  odium  of  a  veto ;  that 
Mr.  Clay  desired  the  latter,  in  order  to  remove  both  him  and 
Mr.  Webster  from  all  rivalry  for  the  next  presidential  term, 
and  that  his  leading  friends,  Mr.  Sergeant  especially,  cared 
more  for  the  concession  of  power  to  create  a  United  States 
Bank  than  they  did  even  for  the  success  of  their  favorite 
candidate  for  the  Presidency,  Mr.  Clay ;  that  Mr.  Sergeant 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  189 

would  insist  on  the  concession  of  power  to  have  the  bill  ap 
proved,  whilst  Mr.  Clay  would  insist  upon  it  to  have  the  bill 
vetoed  ;  that  to  incorporate  a  bank  would  be  to  violate  the 
pledges  and  committals  of  the  Whig  party  and  of  himself  for 
his  lifetime  ;  but,  if  he  had  modified  or  changed  his  views,  we 
urged  upon  him  in  that  case  to  follow  the  example  of  Mr. 
Madison,  in  1816, — to  waive  all  constitutional  scruples  and  to 
sign  an  efficient  charter ;  that  it  was  not  less  impolitic  than 
inconsistent  to  approve  of  any  "  mongrel  scheme"  like  that 
even  of  Mr.  Rives,  and  the  "  Fiscal  Corporation"  bill  was 
nothing  but  a  United  States  Bank  in  disguise,  as  to  every  con 
stitutional  objection  to  it,  whilst  it  was  encumbered  by  pro 
visions  seemingly  only  to  avoid  the  question  of  constitutionality, 
which  would  make  it  inefficient ;  that  if  he  would  sign  an  act 
of  incorporation  at  all,  he  would  do  himself  most  justice  by 
signing  an  efficient  charter  which  would  be  most  useful  both  to 
the  government  and  to  the  country.  He  concurred  fully  in  these 
views,  and  requested  us  to  see  Mr.  Sergeant  at  once  and  to  say 
to  him  he  wished  him  explicitly  to  understand  that  he  would 
sign  no  bill  which  conceded  the  power  in  Congress  to  create  a 
national  bank  in  any  form, — that  he  would  accede  to  any  plan 
which  might  be  agreed  upon  within  the  pale  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  but  that  he  would  not  be  held  committed  to  the  bill  of 
the  ''  Fiscal  Corporation"  unless  it  was  modified  so  as  to  re 
move  the  constitutional  objections.  This  was  on  the  day  before 
the  bill  was  submitted  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
on  that  day  the  message  of  the  President  was  delivered  to  Mr. 
Sergeant.  He  was  informed  fully  of  the  President's*  views,  and 
they  were  explained  to  him  distinctly, — that  he  did  not  wish  to 
be  considered  as  committed  to  the  bill  which  Mr.  Sergeant  had 
in  charge,  and,  if  he  was  so  understood,  he  desired  the  mistake 
to  be  corrected  before  it  was  reported  ;  that  he  could  not  con 
sent  to  sign  the  bill  in  the  form  in  which  it  was  last  presented 
to  him.  Mr.  Sergeant  received  the  message  without  uttering  a 
word  of  comment ;  he  simply  acknowledged  its  receipt,  made 
no  inquiries,  bowed,  and  went  to  his  committee. 

The  next  morning  the  "  Fiscal  Corporation"  bill  was  reported 


190  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

by  him  to  the  House,  and  was  immediately  acted  upon  without 
debate.  He  himself  was  not  allowed  to  explain  fully  the 
reasons  for  changing  the  title  of  the  bill  from  "  Fiscal  Bank" 
to  "  Fiscal  Corporation"  before  the  hammer  of  the  Speaker  fell 
upon  the  debate,  and  the  bill  was  rushed  through  both  Houses. 
Then  the  war  upon  Mr.  Tyler  became  appalling:  he  was  dared, 
as  it  were,  not  only  to  withstand  the  clamors  of  the  Federal 
Whigs  for  the  United  States  Bank,  but  to  go  counter  to  the 
understanding  he  had  had,  as  was  alleged,  with  Messrs.  Ewing, 
Sergeant,  and  Berrien.  John  Tyler's  intelligence  and  integrity 
were  then  tried  to  the  uttermost,  and  he  proved  himself  firm  as 
truth  itself  to  the  Constitution,  looking  fully  in  the  face  dangers 
enough  to  appall  any  man  not  fortified  by  virtue,  as  he  was, 
and  which  assailed  his  personal  honor  and  veracity  as  a  man,  as 
well  as  blasted  every  political  hope  he  may  have  had  in  the 
party  which  elected  him.  The  bill  was  passed  on  the  4th  of 
September,  1841,  and  on  the  9th  of  the  same  month  he  re 
turned  it  with  his  second  veto. 

He  paused  for  consultation,  but  had  no  Cabinet  advisers  who 
concurred  with  him.  He  had  to  confer  with  friends  outside  of 
his  Cabinet,  and,  after  a  final  conference,  instructed  a  friend,  who 
was  familiar  with  all  his  views  and  all  the  facts  as  to  the  prep 
aration  of  the  second  bill,  to  prepare  his  second  veto,  which  was 
done  in  his  presence,  and  which,  with  but  few  modifications  by 
himself,  is  that  now  among  the  public  archives.  The  veto  thus 
prepared  was  then  submitted  to  the  Cabinet.  He  expressed  the 
most  anxious  solicitude  to  meet  the  wishes  of  Congress,  avoid 
ing  all  constitutional  objections ;  he  deplored  the  want  of  time 
to  submit  a  definite  recommendation  of  his  own,  and  had  occupied 
his  mind  in  the  most  anxious  attempt  to  conform  his  action  to  the 
legislative  will ;  and  he  most  respectfully  submitted,  in  a  spirit  of 
harmony,  that  the  measure  should  not  at  that  time  be  pressed 
upon  him,  but  that  the  whole  subject  should  be  postponed  to  a 
more  auspicious  period  for  deliberation.  While  this  veto  mes 
sage  was  being  considered,  he  received  an  intimation  from  the 
Whig  leaders  that  if  he  would  not  disturb  any  member  of  his 
Cabinet,  the  bill  might  be  postponed  to  the  regular  session  of 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  191 

Congress.  One  member  of  the  Cabinet  who  retired,  did  not  desire 
to  do  so,  and  complained  that  he  was  forced  to  retire  by  the 
personal  demands  and  influence  of  Mr.  Clay.  At  a  meeting  of 
the  members  of  the  Cabinet,  all  except  Mr.  Webster,  to  deter 
mine  upon  their  course,  Mr.  Clay  was  present,  and  demanded  of 
them  to  resign.  The  matter  was  seriously  debated  ;  Mr.  Bell,  of 
Tennessee,  was  opposed  to  the  retirement,  and  desired  that  the 
subject  of  the  bank  might  be  postponed,  on  condition  that  in 
the  mean  time  no  hostile  movements  should  be  made  on  the 
Cabinet;  and  Mr.  Crittenden  himself,  supposed  to  be  most 
under  the  influence  of  Mr.  Clay,  playfully  inquired  whether  he 
might  not  in  honor  remain  until  the  stock  of  wines  he  had  laid 
in  was  consumed ;  but  Mr.  Clay  was  inexorable.  And  while  ' 
the  second  veto  was  pending  before  the  Cabinet,  the  President 
submitted  to  them  that  he  should  announce  to  Congress  his 
abnegation  of  all  pretensions  to,  or  aspirations  for,  the  succes 
sion,  and  his  resolve  to  retire  at  the  expiration  of  his  term, 
and  every  member  present  protested  against  any  such  announce 
ment  ;  yet  he  added  to  the  veto  this  memorable  paragraph :  "  I 
will  take  this  occasion  to  declare  that  the  conclusions  to  which 
I  have  brought  myself  are  those  of  a  settled  conviction,  founded, 
in  my  opinion,  on  a  just  view  of  the  Constitution  ;  that,  in 
arriving  at  it,  I  have  been  actuated  by  no  other  motive  or  de 
sire  than  to  uphold  the  institutions  of  the  country  as  they  have 
come  down  to  us  from  the  hands  of  our  godlike  ancestors ;  and 
that  I  shall  esteem  my  efforts  to  sustain  them,  even  though  I 
perish,  more  honorable  than  to  win  the  applause  of  men  by  a 
sacrifice  of  my  duty  and  of  my  conscience." 

The  Congress  was  implacable:  the  Whig  leaders  "held  the 
second  cup  of  bank  or  no  bank"  to  the  President's  lips;  he 
would  make  no  compromise  of  his  principles,  would  sacrifice 
neither  his  duty  nor  his  conscience,  would  make  no  bargain  in 
respect  to  retaining  his  Cabinet,  but  fearlessly  vindicated  him 
self  from  the  aspersion  that  he  was  governed  by  ambitious  mo 
tives,  or  that  he  was  false  and  treacherous,  and  put  "the 
applause  of  men"  behind  him  in  his  defense  of  his  "  settled 
convictions,  founded,"  in  his  opinion,  "on  a  just  view  of  the 


192  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

Constitution ;"  and  in  twenty-four  days  from  the  1st,  he  sent  to 
Clay,  "  with  a  Senate  at  his  heels,"  and  to  King  Caucus,  with 
Congress  under  his  reign,  his  second  veto  ! 

This  proved  potentially  that  he  was  no  "nose  of  wax,"  but 
a  firm,  immovable  lover  of  the  Constitution,  a  fearless  patriot, 
a  wise  and  sagacious  statesman,  and  an  honest  man.  The 
Harrison-appointed  Cabinet  at  once,  under  the  force  of  Mr. 
Clay,  dissolved.  From  all  this  intrigue,  Daniel  Webster  alone 
kept  himself  grandly  aloof;  he  had  naught  to  do  with  Mr. 
Clay's  cabal ;  his  own  opinions  were  unmoved  as  to  the  power 
to  create  a  bank,  but,  knowing  Mr.  Tyler's  convictions  and  scru 
ples  to  be  as  unmoved,  he  could  not,  with  proper  respect  to 
Mr.  Tyler  or  himself,  advise  him  to  violate  the  consistency  of 
his  whole  life  by  approving  a  bill  which  deceitfully  and  cun 
ningly  professed  only  to  evade  constitutional  objections  and 
conscientious  scruples.  He  knew  that  the  blows  were  intended 
by  Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends  for  him  as  well  as  for  Mr.  Tyler, 
and  they  had  won  the  mutual  confidence  and  admiration  of 
each  other ;  and  he  kept  the  bickerings  of  cabal  and  caucus  and 
the  clamors  of  party  factions  away  from  him,  knowing  that  the 
country  had  great  affairs  to  be  administered,  and  he  calmly  and 
dignifiedly  attended,  among  other  great  measures,  to  the  settle 
ment  of  the  Northeastern  Boundary  question  with  Great  Britain. 
The  rest  of  the  Cabinet  retired,  knowing  full  well  that  if  they 
had  not  bowed  themselves  out  they  would  have  been  shown 
the  door.  It  was  a  mutual  separation  between  them  and  Mr. 
Tyler.  It  was  a  cordial  union  between  him  and  Mr.  Webster ; 
that  itself  is  the  highest  credential  of  Mr.  Tyler's  integrity 
against  all  contradiction.  Webster  manfully  remained  by  an 
honest  President,  and  sustained  him  by  his  example  against 
all  aspersion  and  persecution.  It  was  one  of  the  sublimest 
actions  of  his  great  life.  He,  too,  made  a  sacrifice  in  remaining 
despite  the  clamor  of  the  major  faction  of  those  who  concurred 
with  him  in  opinion  upon  a  bank  against  Mr.  Tyler.  The 
policy  of  Mr.  Clay  was  to  separate  both  Mr.  Tyler  and  Mr. 
Webster  from  the  great  body  of  the  Whig  party,  and  the 
expectation  was  that  the  two  standing  alone  could  not  make 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  193 

up  another  Cabinet,  and  that  both  would  have  to  retire  from 
the  task  of  carrying  on  the  government.  How  he  "  reckoned 
without  his  host"  events  immediately  showed.  There  were 
ready  at  hand  new  men,  unhackneyed  politicians  of  the  best 
caliber,  far  superior  in  qualifications  to  those  who  had  retired. 
Webster  himself  remained  the  same  Daniel  Webster;  Abel  P. 
Upshur,  John  C.  Spencer,  Robert  Wickliffe,  Hugh  L.  Legare, 
and  Walter  Forward  (?)  were  called,  as  it  were,  from  their  homes 
in  the  country.  Not  one  of  them  was  blase  with  Washington 
City  politics,  parties,  factions,  or  feuds.  Such  a  Cabinet  before 
or  since  has  never  been  formed  in  the  United  States,  for  either 
natural  powers  or  cultivation  in  law  and  letters,  and  for  ex 
perience  in  the  applied  science  of  government.  Each  was 
mighty,  and  it  is  hard  to  say  which  was  mightiest ;  each  was 
a  full  peer  of  Webster,  and  we  would  like  to  know  another 
Cabinet  of  which  that  can  be  said. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE   SIXTH   DECADE,    FROM   184O   TO   185O. 

The  Cabinet — Mr.  Webster;  his  Social  Conversation — Daniel  Wise — Hon.  A.  P. 
Upshur — T.  R.  Joynes — Trial  of  the  Gibbses — The  Figure  of  Arithmetic  and 
of  Rhetoric— Mr.  J.  C.  Spencer— Mr.  Wickliffe— Mr.  Legare— Error  in  his 
Biography — Retirement  of  Spencer  and  Webster — Death  of  Legare — Second 
Session  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Congress — Its  Measures — The  Bank  Bills — 
The  Exchequer — Act  for  the  Distribution  of  the  Sales  of  the  Public  Lands, 
and  the  Tariff,  and  their  Veto — Report  of  Mr.  Adams's  Committee,  and  the 
Protest — Mr.  Thomas  W.  Gilmer — Dorr  Rebellion — Impeachment — Loss  of 
Mrs.  Tyler — Persecution  and  Composure  of  Mr.  Tyler — The  Cabinet  renewed. 

OF  Mr.  Webster's  public  life  nothing  need  here  be  said.  His 
private  intercourse  was  even  more  attractive  than  his  position 
as  a  statesman  was  commanding.  He  was,  when  in  the  right 
mood,  the  most  genial  of  companions,  and  his  conversation  was 
more  delightful  and  instructive  than  his  speeches  or  orations. 
On  one  occasion  we  went  into  the  Senate-chamber,  and  were 
standing  alone  in  the  lobby,  listening  to  some  dull  debate ;  he 
was  sitting  in  his  usual  place,  not  occupied,  and  hardly  attend 
ing  to  what  was  going  on,  but  thoughtful,  and,  as  was  his  habit 
when  musing,  pulling  one  of  his  ears.  It  was  a  singular  idiosyn 
crasy  ;  and  we  often  asked  ourself,  Is  there  any  sympathy  be 
tween  his  ear  and  his  brain  ?  Does  the  friction  of  the  one  excite 
the  other  ?  If  so,  what  an  electric  ear  his  must  have  been  ! 

As  we  were  looking  at  him,  he  caught  our  eye,  rose  imme 
diately  from  his  seat,  came  to  where  we  were,  and  took  us  by  the 
arm,  saying,  "  Come  here."  There  was  a  map  of  the  United 
States  hanging  behind  the  Vice-President's  chair,  to  which  he  led 
us  and  inquired,  "  Where  do  you  live  ?  Show  me  the  spot."  We 
pointed  to  the  spot  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  on  the  Virginia  coast, 
(194) 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  195 

opposite  the  Metompkin  Inlet.  "  Well,"  said  he,  "  do  you 
ever  shoot  curlews  and  will — will — willets  ?"  We  replied, 
"Yes."  He  then  descanted  on  the  habits  of  those  birds,  and 
the  times  of  their  migration.  He  said  that,  at  the  proper 
season,  his  custom  was  to  shoot  them,  off  Nabant,  perhaps,  and 
that,  according  to  his  calculation  of  climate  and  distance,  about 
two  or  three  weeks  after  he  began  shooting  them  there  they 
migrated  to  the  Virginia  coast.  "  Now,"  he  said,  "  remember, 
that  if  you  see  any  crippled  ones  down  your  way  after  about 
that  time,  they  are  my  birds."  This  was  said  with  a  magic 
geniality,  and,  without  waiting  for  our  reply,  he  asked,  "  Where 
did  your  ancestors  come  from?"  We  told  him  that  our  blood 
was  half  English  and  half  Scotch, — all  our  paternal  ancestors 
came  from  the  North  of  England,  and  most  of  the  preepositi 
had  been  clergymen  ;  that  the  only  marked  man  among  them 
we  had  heard  of  was  Sir  William  Wise,  distinguished  for  his 
wit,  whom  Henry  the  Eighth  had  knighted  for  gratifying  his 
spleen  against  the  French  by  saying,  when  asked  what  the 
phrase  fleur-de-lis  meant,  "  It  means  French  lice,  sire."  He 
laughed,  and  then  gravely  told  us  his  reason  for  asking  who 
our  ancestors  were.  Near  his  father's  residence,  along  the 
New  Hampshire  coast,  dwelt  an  English  pensioner,  an  old 
ex-warrant  officer  of  the  British  navy,  a  bachelor,  alone  in  a 
small  fisherman's  cot,  named  Daniel  Wise.  That  his  name 
was  no  lucus  a  non  lucendo,  for  he  was  a  very  Daniel,  judge 
indeed  of  most  things,  and  especially  of  men,  and  was  exceed 
ingly  good  and  wise  by  nature  as  well  as  by  name;  and  was 
the  best  master  of  a  boat,  the  most  cunning  in  fishing  craft  and 
tackle,  and  the  most  inveterate  fisherman  he  ever  heard  or  read 
of,  Izaak  Walton  not  excepted.  Mr.  Webster,  when  a  boy, 
was  devoted  to  fishing,  and  thus  won  the  heart  of  "Uncle 
Daniel  Wise,"  who  taught  him  to  fix  his  hook  and  line  and 
bait,  and  always  fondly  took  him  with  him  in  his  boat,  when 
ever  he  was  allowed  by  his  mother  to  venture  out  upon  the 
water.  That  it  was  in  this  fishing  companionship  with  this 
naval  pensioner  of  England,  who  had,  of  course,  sailed  around 
the  world  and  seen  all  parts  and  all  people,  he  had  first  learned 


196  SEVEN  DECADES    OF  THE    UNION. 

the  love  of  geography  and  navigation,  and  the  knowledge  of  the 
manners  and  customs  and  costumes  of  the  different  countries  and 
people  of  the  world.  "  Uncle  Daniel"  was  a  great  observer, 
thoroughly  informed  of  everything  he  had  seen  wherever  he  had 
roamed,  and  was  well  read  in  geography  and  history,  and  instead 
of  "  spinning  mere  sailor's  yarns,"  told  him  sober  tales,  curious 
and  wonderful,  but  never  shocking  truth,  or  decency,  or  common 
sense.  His  own  private  history  he  would  never  give  him,  but 
never  tired  in  narrating  the  stories  of  his  travels.  This  first 
excited  his  fervor  animi  for  knowledge,  and  drew  him  by  a 
pleasant  attraction  to  seek  her  treasures.  He  regarded  this  old 
man,  thus  communed  with  alone,  as  the  Nestor  of  his  youth, 
and  described  him  with  childlike  affection. 

"  Did  you  ever  know  him,  or  have  you  ever  heard  of  such  a 
man  of  that  name  ?"  His  description  made  us  know,  and  want 
to  know  more  of  him  at  once,  but  we  regretted  that  we  had 
never  known  or  heard  of  him  before,  and  that  we  could  not 
claim  a  kinship  with  such  a  character.  He  was  dead  many 
years  before,  it  seemed,  and  we  could  never  compare  genealo 
gies  with  him.  This  little  incident  first  drew  us  near  to  Mr. 
Webster,  socially,  and  we  were  grateful  afterwards  for  any 
opportunity  to  hear  him  talk  in  the  same  strain,  when  he  was  in 
the  mood  to  do  it,  with  his  heart  as  well  as  with  his  tongue.  At 
such  times  we  preferred  listening  to  his  narrations  to  reading 
Scott's  best  novels ;  so  simple,  pure,  and  touching  was  his 
genial  pathos;  his  eyes  were  "great,  pathetic  eyes,"  oxlike, 
beaming  generous,  genial  thoughts,  gracious  and  great.  Clay 
in  comparison  with  him,  socially,  was  what  Tom  Marshall 
called  him,  "a  sublime  blackguard." 

Abel  P.  Upshur  was  born  on  that  peninsula  land  of  Virginia, 
the  Eastern  Shore, — "the  land  of  the  pine  and  the  myrtle." 
He  was  in  his  youth  the  leader  of  the  great  rebellion  at  Prince 
ton  College.  His  mother  was  a  sister  of  Colonel  Thomas 
Parker,  called  "  Hangman  Tom"  by  the  Tories  of  the  Revolu 
tion,  who  was  captured  at  the  battle  of  Germantown,  in 
Mathew's  regiment ;  and  when  Earl  Harcourt  rode  along  the 
line  of  rebel  prisoners,  ragged  and  worn  and  drooping,  asking 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  19  Y 

each  what  his  occupation  had  been,  Lieutenant  Thomas  Parker 
stood  erect,  and,  when  his  turn  came  to  tell  who  and  what  he 
was,  replied  to  the  question  of  the  Earl,  saying,  "  I  am  as 
my  father  before  me  was,  a  gentleman,  and  be  d — d  to  you ! 
Who  are  you  ?"  The  Upshurs  were  of  a  similar  stock  of  "loyal 
gentlemen.'7 

Old  Dr.  Smith,  to  the  day  of  his  death,  we  are  told,  never 
failed  to  speak  of  Upshur's  defense  of  himself  and  his  comrades 
for  their  rebellion  at  Princeton  as  one  of  the  finest  displays  of 
argument  and  eloquence  he  had  ever  heard. 

After  his  college  career  Upshur  studied  law  in  the  office  of 
William  Wirt,  and  became  imbued  with  his  manners  and  learn 
ing.  He  first  settled  in  Richmond  and  practiced  his  profession 
there ;  but,  with  a  view  to  obtaining  a  seat  in  Congress,  he  moved 
to  Northampton,  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  his  native  county,  and, 
failing  to  be  returned  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  Con 
gress,  being  beaten  by  Mr.  Bassett,  he  was  afterwards  elected  to 
the  House  of  Delegates  of  the  legislature  of  Virginia.  There  he 
became  highly  distinguished  as  a  debater  and  orator  of  the  first 
water.  His  speech  upon  what  was  called  the  "  Marriage  Bill," 
to  repeal  the  laws  prohibiting  a  man  from  marrying  the  sister 
of  his  deceased  wife,  was  a  signal  effort  of  art  and  learning  in 
debate ;  and  during  its  heat,  when  the  celebrated  General 
Blackburn,  of  Bath,  rather  indecorously  and  sardonically  hinted 
that  "  our  Abel"  had  interested  motives  in  the  repeal,  because 
the  Eastern  Shore  people,  isolated  as  they  were,  had  been 
obliged  to  intermarry  among  themselves,  and  that  some  of 
his  own  kindred  probably  required  the  legalization  of  their 
marriages,  Upshur  was  aroused,  and  there  are  persons  now 
alive  who  speak  of  his  reply  as  one  of  the  loftiest  tone  of  elo 
quent  invective, — pointed,  clear,  cutting,  and  yet  in  perfect 
ornate  order.  His  retort  was  painfully  polite,  but  went  through 
and  through  his  adversary,  and,  as  he  left  him  prostrate  on  the 
plain,  he-  rose  above  him  to  a  height  inaccessible  to  most  men. 

His  forensic  displays  in  encounters  with  his  great  rival, 
Thomas  R.  Joynes,  the  father  of  the  present  distinguished 
Judge  Joynes,  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  were  splendid.  T.  R. 


198  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

Joynes  was  a  master  in  his  way,  and  Upshur  was  greater 
only  in  oratory.  Joynes  was  a  mathematician,  quick,  power 
ful,  always  to  the  point,  reticent,  cautious,  and  over-laborious. 
He  could  almost  multiply  nine  figures  by  nine  figures  in 
his  head,  and  as  quick  as  thought  could  give  a  true  state 
ment  of  any  proportion  in  the  relation  of  numbers,  and,  always 
practical,  addressed  himself  to  common  sense.  Upshur  was 
more  highly  cultivated,  more  ornate  and  graceful,  a  metaphysi 
cian,  scholar,  logician,  and  rhetorician.  It  was  a  treat  to  see 
them  fence  on  any  subject,  great  or  small.  A  scene  of  more 
than  common  moment  occurred  between  them  in  the  trial  of 
the  Gibbs  brothers  for  maiming  one  Hargis.  The  case  was  a 
romantic  one,  and  is  well  remembered  on  the  Eastern  Shore, 
having  the  most  peculiar  state  of  facts,  which  were  all  fully 
developed  on  the  trial, — a  mistress  and  family  of  children,  a 
marriage  in  respectable  life  among  strangers  in  another  State, 
the  bringing  home  of  the  lady-wife,  the  first  visit  to  church  of 
the  couple  after  marriage,  a  scene  there  of  the  mistress  breaking 
upon  the  new-married  couple  in  the  procession  of  church-going 
people  and  tearing  the  luce  shawl  from  the  shoulders  of  the  bride, 
that  followed  by  the  two  youngest  brothers  of  the  groom,  of  eigh 
teen  and  twenty  years,  severely  switching  the  woman  for  her 
audacious  assault,  that  followed  by  her  brother's  attempted 
vengeance  upon  the  youths,  and  their  stabbing  and  cutting  the 
man  nearly  to  death  and  inflicting  permanent  wounds,  bringing 
them  within  the  statute  of  mayhem.  I  or  this  a  prosecution 
was  instituted  against  the  two  youthful  Gibbses.  Paramour  and 
mistress,  husband  and  wife,  brothers  and  sister  thus  commin 
gled  in  a  strange  confusion  of  crime,  were  all  in  the  survey  and 
scener}r  of  the  case,  and  the  defense  gave  Upshur  full  scope  for 
all  his  powers. 

Joynes  prosecuted  with  all  his  keen  precision,  presenting 
everything  in  perfect  array  for  the  Commonwealth,  summing 
up,  first,  the  whipping  of  the  Magdalen,  and  contrasting  her 
affront  to  the  bride  with  the  brothers'  wrong  to  her,  and  her 
brother's  attempted  vengeance  upon  them  with  their  ven 
geance  on  his  sister,  defiled  by  their  brother,  leaving  their 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  199 

crime  against  him  naked  and  without  excuse,  their  youth  only 
excusing  the  cowardice  as  well  as  guilt  of  the  two  stabbing  the 
one.  The  prosecution  was  thought  unanswerable.  But  by  the 
time  Upshur  rose  to  the  height  of  his  argument  there  was  a 
whirlwind  revolution  in  the  minds  of  the  audience  and  jury. 
Patrick  Henry  never  carried  with  him  the  passions  of  the  people 
with  more  irresistible  force.  He  had  made  the  marriage  relation 
his  study  in  discussing  the  Marriage  Bill  before  the  legislature, 
— its  holiness,  its  mystery,  its  refinement,  its  purity,  its  purpose, 
its  delicacy  of  trust,  its  exalting  and  cleansing  effect,  and  its 
sacred  inviolability  in  the  sight  of  God.  And  this  he  put  before 
the  jury  with  a  power  and  rapture  of  thoughts  and  figures 
which  made  them  feel  as  they  had  never  felt  before  towards 
holy  wedlock.  Then  upon  the  crime  which  assailed  and  shamed 
holy  wedlock,  in  a  crowd,  at  a  church-door,  he  poured  out  such 
wrath  as  carried  away  every  father  and  brother.  The  paramour 
himself  had  not  been  attacked,  but  the  blameless  bride.  The 
youths  had  been  merciful ;  they  had  only  switched  the  bold, 
bad  harlot,  and  only  stabbed,  instead  of  killing,  her  avenger, 
who  was  seeking  vengeance  for  the  mere  switching  of  a  sister, 
when  he  had  never  sought  vengeance  for  her  defilement.  The 
whole  feeling  was  carried  back  against  the  prosecutor,  Hargis ; 
and  the  two  Gibbses  were  acquitted  with  acclamations. 

After  a  short  practice  at  the  bar  he  went  upon  the  bench, 
proving  himself  not  a  "  Nisi  Prius"  prig,  but  a  large,  comprehen 
sively-profound  jurist.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Conven 
tion  of  1829-30  to  amend  the  Virginia  Constitution  of  1776.  He 
advocated,  most  erroneously,  the  mixed  basis  of  representation, 
population  and  property  combined,  and  lived  to  confess  his  error. 
Leigh  was  the  Ajax  of  that  heresy,  guided  by  that  miser  of 
aristocracy,  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke,  but  Upshur  was  the 
author  of  the  one  surpassing  speech  which  carried  the  question. 
His  law  rival,  T.  R.  Joynes,  was  also  a  member ;  and  of  the 
two  Mr.  Randolph  said,  "  I  had  expected  the  ancient  rights 
and  charters  of  Virginia  to  have  been  defended  by  the  Taze- 
wells  and  Trezvants  of  the  south  side  of  the  James ;  but, 
whilst  they  have  been  supine  and  silent,  the  fishermen  of  the 


200  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  HIE    UNION. 

Eastern  Shore  have  proved  to  be  the  champions  of  all  that  is 
sacred  to  this  Ancient  Dominion.  Our  defense  has  fallen  upon 
that  'figure  of  arithmetic'  of  Accomack  (Joynes),  and  that 
'figure  of  rhetoric'  (Upshur)  of  Northampton." 

Upshur's  review  of  Judge  Story's  theory  of  constitutional 
law  fixed  his  fame.  He  was  no  longer  an  asteroid,  but  a  planet. 
He  was  in  full  vigor  and  known  to  honor  and  to  fame  when 
persuaded  to  take  the  place  of  Secretary  of  the  Navy  in  the 
first  Cabinet  appointed  by  Mr.  Tyler.  His  messages  are  models 
of  state  papers,  and  beautiful  blocks  in  the  monument  of  his 
fame.  The  morning  after  his  first  report  was  sent  in,  Hugh  S. 
Legare  stopped  us  to  inquire  why  that  gentleman,  Mr.  Upshur, 
had  not  been  sent  up  before  by  Virginia  to  magnify  her  rightful 
claim  to  a  race  of  pre-eminent  men.  When  told  that  the  reason 
was  that  the  mother  State  of  the  greatest  men  had  so  many  like 
him  she  could  not  send  all  her  jewels  at  once,  he  said  that  he 
had  read  his  report  once,  and  that  it  was  so  pure  in  its  style, 
so  perfect  a  model  of  what  a  message  ought  to  be,  that  he  had 
read  it  twice  before  rising  from  its  perusal. 

He  was  killed  at  the  catastrophe  of  the  Princeton,  in  1844, 
while  Secretary  of  State.  Had  be  ever  been  sent  to  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  he  would  have  been  universally  known 
and  appreciated  at  his  full  worth.  Had  he  been  in  the  place  of 
Robert  Y.  Hayne,  in  the  debate  on  Foote's  Resolution,  it  is 
doubtful  whether  Daniel  Webster  ever  would  have  been  called 
the  "  Great  Defender  of  the  Constitution."  He  was  a  finer 
rhetorician  and  orator  than  Webster,  and  a  closer  logician, — his 
style  purer  and  his  power  of  expression  clearer.  He  had  all 
of  his  momentum  and  more  activity.  Mr.  Tyler's  administration 
brought  his  abilities  into  view,  and  that  itself  is  no  little  praise. 

Of  Mr.  Spencer's  private  life  we  know  but  little.  He  had 
been  known  and  distinguished  in  the  public  councils.  He  had 
served  with  Mr.  Tyler  in  Congress,  and  he  knew  his  worth. 
He  was  a  man  of  quick  and  active  mind,  penetrating  and  prac 
tical.  He  knew  well  all  the  politics  of  New  York,  and  was 
an  adept  in  the  ways  of  Wall  Street.  He  was  Secretary  of 
War,  but  was  best  qualified  to  manage  the  finances. 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  201 

Upon  the  retirement  of  the  Harrison  Cabinet,  Mr.  Webster 
retained  his  place  as  Secretary  of  State ;  and  Mr.  Forward,  of 
Pennsylvania,  for  the  Treasury,  Mr.  John  McLean,  of  Ohio,  for 
the  War,  Mr.  Upshur,  of  Virginia,  for  the  Navy,  Mr.  Wickliffe,  of 
Kentucky,  for  the  Postmaster-Generalship,  and  Mr.  Legare,  of 
South  Carolina,  for  the  Attorney-Generalship,  were  nominated 
and  appointed  in  September,  1841.  Mr.  McLean  declining  to  re 
sign  his  seat  on  the  Supreme  Bench,  Mr.  Spencer  was  nominated 
and  appointed  in  his  place  in  the  War  Department  in  October, 
1841,  and  from  the  War  he  was  changed  to  the  Treasury 
Department  in  March,  1843  ;  which  place  he  resigned,  owing  to 
a  difference  with  the  administration  on  the  policy  of  annexing 
Texas.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  Treasury  by  Mr.  George  M. 
Bibb,  of  Kentucky,  in  1844. 

Mr.  Wickliflfe  was  a  man  of  great  Western  reputation,  distin 
guished  alike  for  his  legal  learning  and  his  fine,  manly  judgment 
in  all  matters  of  politics  and  government.  He  remained  in  his 
place  until  the  end  of  the  administration. 

As  for  Mr.  Legare,  he  had  not  his  equal  for  the  Attorney- 
Generalship  in  the  United  States.  His  life  was  one  of  study 
in  the  best  schools  at  home  and  on  the  Continent  of  Europe. 
He  was  diplomat  at  Brussels  long  enough  to  enable  him  to  dive 
deep  into  the  civil  law,  and  had  at  home  been  a  reviewer  of  the 
highest  order.  He  was  grandly  classic,  and  equal  to  the  orig 
inals  of  his  studies.  He  was  a  Greek  article  in  language,  and 
a  votary  of  the  masters  in  literature.  He  had  been  rudiment- 
ally  taught,  and  had  followed  his  rudiments  down  to  supreme 
practice.  His  Life  has  lately  been  published  by  his  estimable 
sister,  with  all  a  sister's  partiality,  but  truly,  according  to  his 
real  merit  and  worth.  We  regret  only  a  passage  in  the  review 
of  his  biography  by  the  "  Southern  Review,"  vol.  vii.,  number 
13,  of  the  date  of  January,  1870.  It  says,  "All  who  have 
studied  our  history  must  remember  how  unpopular  was  the 
administration  of  Mr.  Tyler.  It  seemed  to  have  a  upas  power 
of  blighting  every  reputation  which  approached  its  shadow. 
Legare  alone  lost  nothing  by  his  association  with  it.  On  the  con 
trary,  his  fame  steadily  increased.  The  President,  in  the  midst 


202  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

of  his  distracting  cares,  learned  to  rely  upon  his  Attorney- 
General  for  counsel  and  assistance.  These  were  always  frankly 
given,  and  thus  a  friendship  was  gradually  established  between 
them.  Upon  the  withdrawal  of  Webster  from  the  Cabinet,  the 
duties  of  the  State  Department  were  confided  to  Legare  ad 
interim.  He  showed  his  diplomatic  skill  by  conducting  to  a 
successful  conclusion  the  Ashburton  Treaty,  or  at  least  that  por 
tion  of  it  relating  to  the  long-vexed  and  dangerous  question  of 
the  right  of  search." 

Mr.  Tyler's  administration  was  unpopular  for  a  time.  The 
party  which  elected  him  was  false  to  its  professed  principles, 
and  tried  to  cover  their  own  treachery  by  clamoring  treason 
against  him ;  and  the  party  which  he  had  aided  in  crushing  came 
not,  of  course,  to  his  assistance,  but  chuckled  that  their  oppo 
nents  were  guilty  of  suicide,  by  ostracizing  for  the  time  their 
best  men  and  by  preventing  the  best  of  measures,  the  credit  of 
which  they  might  have  secured.  Every  question  that  the  ad 
ministration  disposed  of  was  of  the  highest  importance,  and 
was  managed  with  the  utmost  ability,  yielding  the  richest  frui 
tion.  The  administration  added  to  the  reputation  of  every 
member  of  its  counsels.  Did  not  Webster  and  Upshur  and 
Spencer  and  Wickliffe  gain  reputation  as  well  as  Legare  ? 
What  reputation  was  ever  blighted  by  the  shadow  of  an  ad 
ministration  which  wisely  and  well  settled  the  Northeastern 
Boundary  question,  the  Caroline  question,  the  Bank  and  Tariff 
questions,  the  Southwestern  Texas  question  ?  —  which  over 
threw  its  revilers  and  revived  Democracy,  crushing  both  old 
Federalism  and  Locofocoism  ? 

As  contrasted  with  any  administration  since,  who  would  not 
have  it  installed  again,  with  all  its  purity,  independence,  integ 
rity,  and  intellect  ?  It  had,  it  is  true,  no  aspirant  of  its  own 
for  the  succession,  and  had  no  candidate  in  the  field  for  the 
Presidency,  but  it  utterly  demolished  both  of  the  corrupt  par 
ties  which  endeavored  to  sully  its  fame  and  to  obstruct  its 
honest  efforts  to  maintain  the  best  measures  for  the  good  of  the 
country.  The  clamor  raised  against  it  was  but  for  a  day,  and 
is  a  part  of  history  only. 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  203 

Every  reputation  which  it  is  said  to  have  blighted  now 
looms  high  above  the  cloud  of  dust  from  the  dirty  arena  of 
Whigs  divided  against  themselves,  or  of  Locofocoism  taking 
vengeance  at  the  time.  The  parties  and  factions  of  the  hour 
Mr.  Tyler  put  behind  him  as  our  Saviour  did  Satan.  There 
were  others  more  distinguished  than  Mr.  Legare,  though  as  a 
lawyer  he  was  entitled  to  be  ranked  with  William  Piukney  him 
self.  He  was  worthy  of  Mr.  Tyler's  administration,  and  it  wras 
worthy  of  him ;  but  it  was  not  he  who  conducted  the  Ash- 
burton  Treaty  to  a  successful  conclusion,  for  that  work  especially 
belonged  to  Mr.  Tyler  himself  and  to  Mr.  Webster,  who  did  not 
retire  from  the  Cabinet  until  it  was  essentially  concluded  ;  Mr. 
Legare  took  upon  him  ad  interim  the  mere  winding  up  of  what 
was  already  concluded,  and  Mr.  Upshur  actually  finished  it. 
This  is  said  not  in  order  to  detract  from  Legare",  but  to  prevent 
an  undue  compliment  to  him  at  the  expense  of  the  reputation 
of  others.  His  reputation  needs  no  such  compliment,  and  were 
he  alive  we  are  sure  he  would  decline  it. 

Mr.  Webster,  as  we  have  just  remarked,  retired  from  the 
Cabinet  only  when  the  work  of  the  Ashburton  Treaty  was 
concluded.  That  was  a  question  which  it  was  due  to  the 
Northeast,  his  section,  that  his  master-mind  should  manage ; 
and  when  he  saw  clearly  the  end  of  it,  he  magnanimously  retired 
to  make  way  for  a  Southern  statesman,  when  the  time  came  to 
take  up  the  next  most  important  matter  of  foreign  relations, — 
Texas. 

This  Cabinet  proper  of  Mr.  Tyler's  administration  was  first 
disturbed  by  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Spencer  ;  then  by  the  retire 
ment  of  Mr.  Webster,  and  afterwards  by  the  death  of  the 
lamented  Legare.  He  accompanied  the  President  to  Boston,  to 
attend  the  Bunker  Hill  celebration,  and  disease  fatally  seized 
upon  the  sigmoid  of  his  viscera.  He  died  at  the  residence  of 
Professor  George  Ticknor,  of  Harvard  University,  in  Boston, 
June  20,  1843.  His  death  was  a  national  loss;  but  he  had 
comrades  in  the  Cabinet  who  were  his  equals,  and  such  as  he 
would  have  considered  fully  competent  to  take  the  Attorney- 
Generalship  or  the  Department  of  State.  Mr.  Upshur  took 


204  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

the  place  of  Mr.  Webster,  and  Mr.  Nelson  the  place  of  Mr. 
Legare. 

The  second  session  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Congress,  the 
session  of  1841-42,  was  marked  by  measures  alike  violent  and 
disgraceful,  and  by  the  most  acrimonious  and  unscrupulous  fac 
tious  proceedings  of  the  Opposition.  The  interval  between 
this  session  and  the  called  session  of  the  summer  of  1841,  instead 
of  softening  the  asperities  excited  by  the  vetoes,  only  heaped 
up  fuel  for  the  flames  of  the  regular  session.  The  message  was 
calm,  temperate,  uncomplaining,  unreproachful,  and  wisely  ad 
dressed  itself  to  the  highly  important  public  business  then 
calling  for  harmonious  action,  and  requiring  great  care  and  skill 
in  the  conduct  of  the  country's  affairs  at  home  and  abroad. 
Some  matters  of  state  were  even  threatening  to  the  national 
peace,  yet  Congress  converted  itself  into  a  committee  of  the 
whole  to  consider  nothing  else  but  "  how,"  in  the  language  of 
the  ogre  of  Whig  politics,  "to  head  John  Tyler." 

The  message  brought  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  the 
very  critical  questions  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  growing  out  of  the  affair  of  the  seizure  of  the  steamer 
Caroline  in  1837,  the  case  of  McLeod,  the  forcible  seizure  of 
Grogan,  the  protection  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States 
against  invasion  at  all  hazards,  the  protection  of  the  flag  of  the 
United  States  in  the  African  seas,  and  the  Northeastern  boun 
dary  between  the  United  States  and  Canada.  The  boundary 
and  relations  with  Texas  were  also  presented  ;  the  Indian  war 
in  Florida ;  the  finances  ;  moderate  counsels  were  recommended 
in  revising  the  tariff  of  duties,  and  the  expediency  of  laying 
duties  solely  in  reference  to  the  wants  of  the  treasury  for 
revenue  was  suggested  ;  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  public  lands 
to  be  applied  to  diminishing  the  duties  on  imports;  and  the 
currency  and  exchange  and  the  fisc  to  be  provided  for  by  the 
system  of  an  exchequer. 

The  message  fully  redeemed  the  President's  pledge  to  propose 
a  plan  for  the  regulation  of  the  currency,  exchange,  and  the  fisc 
by  the  proposal  of  an  exchequer. 

It  was  thoroughly  elaborated  by  Mr.  Gushing  in  his  very  able 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  205 

report  of  that  session,  showing  its  merits  as  compared  with  a 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  or  with  the  State  bank  system,  or 
with  the  "  Sub-Treasury;"  that  it  possessed  the  qualities  of: 

1st.  A  safe  and  convenient  agency  for  the  custody  and  man 
agement  of  the  public  funds. 

2d.  A  useful  agency  of  exchanges  and  collections. 

3d.  A  national  paper  currency. 

4th.  For  the  regulation  of  the  bank  paper  currency  of  the 
States,  by  receiving  it  in  payment  of  public  dues,  and  present 
ing  it  for  redemption  at  short  intervals  of  time. 

5th.  The  utilization  of  the  public  deposits,  and  of  the  specific 
funds  of  individuals,  by  rendering  them  the  basis  of  a  national 
paper  circulation. 

6th.  The  bestowment,  incidentally,  of  the  business  of  the 
treasury,  and  within  the  letter  of  the  Constitution,  of  benefits 
on  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

7th.  Not  intrusting  the  control  of  the  public  funds,  or  of  the 
currency,  to  an  irresponsible  private  corporation. 

8th.  Not  loaning  out  the  public  money  to  private  individuals. 

9th.  Not  making,  and  being  incapable  of  making,  any  excess 
ive  issue,  and  incapable  of  suspending  cash  payments. 

10th  Conducting  the  business  of  the  treasury  without  the 
necessity  of  aid  from  the  creatures  of  the  legislation  of  the 
States. 

llth.  Maintaining  the  legal  money-standard  by  the  use  of 
either  coin  only,  or  of  paper  always  equivalent  to  coin. 

12th.  Being  always  within  the  control  of  Congress  to  repeal 
or  amend  it  at  pleasure. 

This  plan  of  a  fiscal  system  is  the  very  foundation  of  the 
present  prevailing  system,  without  which  the  United  States 
could  not  have  been  carried  through  its  late  civil  war.  Derided 
and  denounced  by  the  Congress  of  1841-42,  it  was  laid  on  the 
table,  and  was  not  allowed  a  consideration  until  its  necessity  and 
expediency  were  developed  by  the  extreme  exigencies  of  the 
Union.  The  reasons  were  obvious  at  the  time,  and  too  plain  to 
be  misunderstood.  One  branch  of  the  Whigs  were  determined  to 
have  a  national  bank  or  nothing;  the  other  branch  had  obtained 


206  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

the  veto,  and  desired  to  subject  the  President  to  the  odium  of 
deranging  the  currency  and  embarrassing  the  treasury;  and  the 
opponents  of  the  Whigs,  the  spoils  partisans  of  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
sought  vengeance,  and  promoted  the  confusion  of  the  party  which 
had  broken  them  down.  Thus  the  exchequer  was  smothered 
for  the  time,  and  the  President  was  left  only  what  Mr.  Clay 
called  "  a  corporal's  guard," — but  six  members  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  not  a  supporter  in  the  Senate,  except  Mr. 
Rives. 

We  had  the  honor  to  be  captain  of  that  distinguished  guard, 
and  have  reason  now  to  glory  in  its  eminent  triumph ;  it  defeated 
the  bank  and  crushed  both  factions  of  the  Opposition.  The 
very  next  election  restored  the  Jackson  Democracy  to  its  pris 
tine  purity  and  power.  Thus  ended  the  savage  struggle  for  a 
national  bank.  The  President's  firmness  prevailed  as  to  his 
policy  and  principles,  and  he  outlived  every  assault  of  his 
enemies,  and  saw  them  overthrown  by  the  power  of  truth.  His 
reputation  was  not  blighted  any  more  than  that  of  Mr.  Legare ; 
both  were  canonized  by  their  wisdom,  moral  courage,  and  in 
tegrity. 

Other  measures  during  this  memorable  session  excited  more 
vetoes  of  the  President  and  more  venom  of  party.  An  act  of 
September,  1841,  had  been  passed,  and  very  improperly  ap 
proved  by  the  President,  to  distribute  the  proceeds  of  the 
sales  of  the  public  lands  among  the  States.  It  was  carried  by 
State  clamor,  over  the  Constitution  ;  the  President  ever  after 
regretted  his  approval  of  it ;  but  it  contained  a  limitation  that  it 
should  cease  in  time  of  war,  or  whenever  the  exigencies  of  the 
treasury  might  demand  duties  for  revenue  exceeding  twenty 
per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

In  the  year  1842  it  was  found  that  government  would  have 
to  exceed  twenty  per  cent,  of  imposts,  or  resort  again  to  the  pro 
ceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  and  the  President  sent 
his  message  to  Congress  dated  March  25,  1842.  He  called 
attention  to  the  finances,  showed  a  deficiency  of  means  from  or 
dinary  sources,  and  urged  retrenchment  of  expenditures,  and  in 
preference  to  laying  duties  higher  than  the  compromise  of  the 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  207 

Tariff  question  permitted,  he  recommended  the  most  effectual 
method  of  supporting  the  credit  of  the  States,  as  well  as  of  the 
Federal  government,  by  applying  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of 
the  public  lands  again  to  the  public  expenditures  and  debt. 
This  was  maintained  by  the  clearest  reasons  of  economy  and 
good  faith,  enforced  by  causes  of  no  ordinary  character,  de 
ranging  the  currency  and  credit  of  the  States.  In  the  face  of 
this  message,  Congress  passed  what  was  called  the  "Little 
Tariff  Bill,"  which  not  only  violated  the  Compromise  act  of 
1833,  but  the  Distribution  act  of  1841.  This  brought  down 
upon  this  bill  another  veto,  in  his  message  of  June  29,  1842. 

Congress  immediately  prepared  another  bill,  revising  the 
whole  tariff.  The  very  necessity  for  the  bill  proved  that  the 
time  had  arrived  to  suspend  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of 
the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  as  provided  in  the  act  of  1841. 
The  effort  was  to  distribute  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the 
public  lands  with  one  hand,  whilst  high  protective  duties,  far 
above  twenty  per  cent.,  were  laid  with  the  other,  at  a  time  when 
the  treasury  was  seriously  embarrassed.  There  could  be  no 
expectation  that  the  President  would  countenance  such  profli 
gacy  of  expenditure  in  order  to  give  opportunity  for  sectional 
or  selfish  legislation,  or  such  mala  fides  in  executing  the  tariff 
compromise.  But  it  was  an  object  then  to  make  the  veto  odious, 
and  the  Whig  leaders  drove  the  President  to  the  extreme  of 
another  tariff  veto. 

The  bill  was  passed,  and  on  the  9th  of  August  he  returned 
it  with  his  veto.  The  message  was  a  very  able  one,  and  sent 
in  without  consultation  with  his  Cabinet.  This  message  was 
made  the  pretext  of  most  unauthorized,  unprecedented,  factious, 
and  false  proceedings  on  the  part  of  Congress.  The  Constitu 
tion  provides  the  manner  of  proceeding  upon  the  veto.  This 
was  meant  not  only  to  provide  the  mode  of  proceeding,  but  to 
prevent  the  imprudence,  indecencies,  and  intemperance  of  heated 
action.  All  decorum  was  abandoned,  the  rule  of  the  Consti 
tution  was  unheeded,  and  the  most  intemperate  action  was 
taken. 

No  consideration  of  the  bill  was  had  by  the  House  of  Repre- 


208  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

sentatives,  but  a  committee  of  thirteen  was  appointed,  at  the 
Jiead  of  which  was  placed  Mr.  John  Q.  Adams,  the  ex-Presi 
dent,  advocate  of  "  light-houses  in  the  skies,"  the  fanatic  of 
abolition,  the  leading  champion  of  the  Massachusetts  school  of 
protective  duties,  and  the  man  most  vindictive  against  the  South 
for  its  combined  opposition  to  his  minority  election  to  the  Pres 
idency  in  1824,  for  and  in  consideration  of  his  "bargain  and 
corruption."  The  committee  was  not  wholly  servile  to  this 
illicit  action.  It  made  three  reports,  one  by  Mr.  Adams,  full  of 
vituperation,  one  by  Messrs.  Charles  J.  Ingersoll  and  Mr.  Rose- 
velt,  and  one  by  Mr.  Thomas  W.  Gilmer,  of  Virginia.  The 
reports  speak  for  themselves.  Mr.  Adams's  report  was  a  com 
plaint  against  the  veto, — protesting  against  the  action  of  Con 
gress  being  "  strangled  by  the  five  times  repeated  stricture  of  the 
Executive  cord."  It  recommended  a  change  of  the  Constitution, 
allowing  a  majority  of  Congress  to  pass  a  bill  into  a  law  over 
the  veto.  Mr.  Gilmer's  report  was  a  very  able  one.  He  was,  in 
early  life,  a  rival  and  compeer  of  Mr.  Rives,  of  the  State  Rights 
and  Strict  Construction  school,  an  able  and  an  honest  man, 
firm,  laborious,  and  prudent,  whilst  bold  and  generous  in  chiv- 
alric  action.  He  was  born  and  educated  a  gentleman,  had  been 
Governor  of  Tirginia,  and  whilst  in  that  office  was  highly  dis 
tinguished  in  his  correspondence  with  Mr.  Seward  on  a  ques 
tion  of  the  extradition  of  a  fugitive  slave.  He  was  able  to  stand 
alone  on  any  committee  when  his  conception  of  his  duty  called 
him  to  be  bold  and  to  act  in  defense  of  the  right. 

The  report  of  Messrs.  Ingersoll  and  Rosevelt  sustained  him, 
and,  though  the  majority  of  ten  to  three  was  great,  the  Presi 
dent  triumphed.  The  Revenue  bill  was  passed  without  the 
distribution  clause.  But  the  Executive  office  and  its  defense 
as  well  as  his  own  required  of  Mr.  Tyler  decisive  remonstrance, 
and  on  the  20th  of  August,  1842,  he  sent  in  to  the  House  of 
Representatives  his  solemn  protest,  marked  by  self-respecting 
defense  and  sound  reproof.  This  action,  these  reports,  and  this 
protest  have  but  to  be  read  to  place  Mr.  Tyler  above  the  re 
proach  of  all  his  revilers. 

At  this  session,  too,  in  spite  of  all  malignity,  his  administra- 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  209 

tion  concluded  a  treaty  with  England  settling  the  questions  of 
the  Northeastern  boundary  and  the  right  of  search.  It  also 
concluded  the  Florida  war,  and  passed  an  act  authorizing  armed 
occupation  of  that  Territory.  It  settled  the  disturbances  in 
Rhode  Island,  and  maintained  the  established  law,  which  ought 
to  have  been  a  precedent  for  establishing  the  position  that  the 
States  were  not  to  be  questioned  by  the  Federal  authorities  as 
to  the  supremacy  of  their  established  State  governments. 

It  held  the  true  doctrine  that  the  Federal  Executive  "  could 
not  look  into  real  or  supposed  defects  of  the  existing  State 
government,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  other  plan  of  govern 
ment  proposed  for  adoption  was  better  suited  to  the  wants  and 
more  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  any  portion  of  her  citi 
zens." 

And  it  would  have  been  well  if  Congress  had  heeded  this 
admonition  when  it  undertook  by  legislative  power  to  over 
throw  eleven  State  governments,  and  to  revolutionize  them  by 
congressional  restraint  and  reconstruction. 

The  action  of  President  Tyler  in  the  case  of  the  Dorr  rebel 
lion  is  a  model  of  what  Federal  Executive  action  should  be  in 
a  case  where  a  State  Constitution  is  disturbed ;  and  reconstruc 
tion  of  late  is  its  contrast  in  the  extremest  degree.  The  govern 
ment  of  Rhode  Island  was  established  by  royal  prerogative,  by 
a  charter  of  a  Stuart  king,  aristocratic  in  every  feature,  and  a 
large  majority  of  the  citizens  subject  to  its  anti-republican  feat 
ures  endeavored  to  hold  an  election  and  to  establish  such  a  re 
publican  form  of  government  as  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  guarantees.  But  Mr.  Tyler  adhered  to  the  maxim  that 
he  was  bound  "  to  respect  the  requisitions  of  that  government 
which  has  been  recognized  as  the  existing  government  of  the 
State  through  all  time  past  until  he  was  advised,  in  regular 
manner,  that  it  has  been  altered  and  abolished,  and  another 
substituted  in  its  place  by  legal  and  peaceable  proceedings, 
adopted  and  ratified  by  the  authorities  and  people  of  the  State." 

How  different  this  from  the  treatment  of  Virginia  by  Con 
gress  and  a  Black  Crook  Convention ! 

Mr.  Tyler's  letter  to  Governor  King,  of  Rhode  Island,  of  the 

14 


210  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

date  of  April  11,  1842,  is  a  fine  specimen  of  the  teaching  of 
the  old  regime  of  Presidents  in  comparison  with  this  age  of 
congressional  usurpation  and  of  Executive  proclamations.  No 
thing  could  show  more  fearfully  the  rapid  tendency  to  the 
concentration  of  all  power  in  the  hands  of  Congress  and  of  the 
Federal  Executive. 

Virginia  had  a  Constitution,  the  first  formed  in  1776  by  the 
fathers  who  had  overthrown  kings,  which  established  the  first 
written  bill  of  the  rights  of  man,  and  which  lasted  for  fifty-four 
years  an  accepted  plan  of  republican  government;  in  1829-30 
it  was  made,  if  possible,  more  republican  and  democratic,  and 
twenty  years  after,  in  1850-51,  was  still  further  liberalized  by 
amendment.  When  the  late  civil  war  broke  out,  there  was  no 
question  but  that  she  had  a  republican  form  of  government, 
and  there  was  no  human  authority  legally  empowered  to  change 
it  but  her  own  people  assembled  in  convention  within  her  own 
defined  territory.  A  majority  of  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  were 
not  permitted  to  change  her  charter  of  Charles  the  Second,  for 
want  of  conventional  power  and  form  ;  and  yet,  since  the  sur 
render  at  Appomattox,  a  military  despotism,  exerted  by  the 
Federal  Executive  and  a  congressional  usurpation  in  time  of 
peace,  has  assailed  and  annihilated  no  less  than  three  Constitu 
tions  of  the  people  of  Virginia,  that  of  1776,  that  of  1829-30, 
and  that  of  1850-51,  which  had  all  been  recognized  and  received 
by  the  nation  as  de  jure  and  republican  for  the  whole  time  of  the 
existence  of  the  Federal  government.  Rhode  Island's  kingly 
or  royal  charter  of  limited  suffrage  could  stand  and  must  stand, 
but  Virginia's  conventional  power  of  her  people  was  torn  away, 
persons  not  citizens  were  given  elective  franchise,  and  the 
franchises  secured  by  her  organic  law  were  destroyed  by  the 
highest  pretension  of  human  powrer,  more  than  kingly  or  impe 
rial,  a  power  of  reconstruction  !  It  will  be  well  for  those  who 
are  and  would  remain  free  to  note  these  high  lights  and  shadows 
of  human  history.  We  have  marked  them  by  points  firmer  than 
those  of  pen  or  pencil,  and  so  will  the  nation  yet,  unless  given 
over  to  individual  blindness,  ere  they  are  established  canons  of 
despotism. 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  211 

There  was  an  evident  design  on  the  part  of  the  Clay  faction 
of  Whigs  to  lay  a  foundation  for  proceedings  of  impeachment. 
Every  effort  was  made,  by  measures  to  extort  vetoes,  by  speeches 
and  reports  in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  and  fcy  the  vilest  vitu 
peration  of  the  press,  to  create  such  a  prejudice  against  the 
President  as  would  tolerate  impeachment  and  try  him  by  the 
animosities  of  both  parties. 

This  was  impossible;  his  conduct  was  above  impeachment, 
and  his  administration  such  a  rock  of  integrity  and  intelligence 
that  the  waves  of  partisan  proceedings  broke  against  it  into  mere 
spray,  and  the  leaders,  too  wily  to  risk  reputation  upon  the 
issue,  shrank  back  from  their  own  designs,  made  to  recoil  by 
the  firmness  and  virtue  of  a  man  who  feared  not  and  failed  not 
to  do  his  whole  duty  to  the  country.  The  administration  was 
merely  dashed  by  the  spray.  Providence  made  the  factious 
Opposition  convict  itself  of  its  own  fatal  folly.  The  Whigs  of 
Mr.  Clay's  faction  had  an  incorrigible  zealot  among  them  who 
brought  impeachment  into  perfect  travesty  of  itself.  The  coarse 
creature  could  not  be  restrained  by  his  betters  in  the  party, 
and  he  vowed  that  "he  would  head  John  Tyler  or  die."  He 
gathered  together  all  the  garbage  of  abuse  against  the  Presi 
dent,  and  heaped  it  into  resolutions  of  impeachment ;  but,  when 
stated,  when  summed  up  into  its  worst  form,  it  was  so  foul,  so 
false,  so  pointless,  so  offensive  to  every  sense  of  good  morals 
and  good  taste,  so  utterly  bad  and  badly  put,  that  it  completely 
demolished  the  impudent  and  imprudent  author  himself,  and 
disgusted,  especially,  the  enemies  of  the  President,  who  desired 
not  to  see  him  so  "  praised  by  faint  damns"  instead  of  being 
"  damned  by  faint  praise." 

In  the  midst  of  his  conflicts  with  Congress,  and  oppressed 
already,  as  he  was,  by  his  public  cares,  the  heaviest  grief  came 
upon  him, — the  loss  of  the  wife  of  his  youth,  who  had  been  the 
angel  of  his  career  for  twenty-nine  years,  who  had  given  him 
a  large  family  of  children,  who  had  graced  and  crowned  his 
home-life  with  every  blandishment  and  bliss.  She  died  at  the 
Executive  Mansion,  on  the  10th  of  September,  1842,  beloved 
by  all  who  knew  her  sweet,  still,  silent,  unobtrusive  worth,  and 


212  SEVEN  DECADES   OF   THE    UNION. 

mourned  not  alone  by  a  husband  who  devotedly  cherished  and 
loved  her,  and  by  children  who  felt  her  affection  like  a  balm  at 
every  breath,  but  by  the  friendless,  the  poor,  and  the  distressed, 
whom  she  always  turned  to  relieve,  and  never  forgot  amid  the 
splendors  of  a  court  and  the  gilded  attractions  of  her  position  in 
high  places.  The  bitterest  political  opponents  of  the  President, 
the  Intelligencer  and  the  Globe  presses,  praised  her  in  obituaries 
which  were  not  cold  or  formal,  but  warm  with  "the  love  and 
esteem  of  all."  Happily,  in  Mrs.  Semple,  in  Mrs.  Robert  Tyler, 
and  in  Mrs.  Waller  she  left  behind  her  sweet  bouquets  for  the 
White  House,  and  the  President  was  not  desolate  in  his  bereave 
ment.  He  was  prepared  for  the  departure  of  Mrs.  Tyler,  as  she 
had,  previously  to  her  last  illness,  been  touched  by  that  cold 
hand  which  sometimes  gently  warns  of  "  the  last  call."  Death 
in  any  form  is  terrible,  but  to  the  gentle,  sweetened  by  grace, 
even  death  is  often  tender.  She  was  a  Christian,  ready  and 
assured,  and  did  not  suffer,  physically,  much  pain.  All  the  pain 
her  honored  husband,  her  sons  and  daughters,  her  friends  and 
neighbors,  and  the  beneficiaries  of  her  bounties,  felt,  and  felt 
deeply.  How  worthy  she  was,  how  loving  and  loved,  and  how 
honored  in  life  and  death,  Mrs.  Halloway  has  told  in  her  "  Ladies 
of  the  White  House." 

But  family  afflictions  mitigated  not  the  persecutions  of  the 
President  by  the  party  which  elected  him  to  power,  violated 
its  own  pledges  when  accusing  him  of  treachery  and  tergiver 
sation,  and  the  sessions  of  1842-43  and  1843-44  but  continued 
the  vengeful  spirit  which  scrupled  not  to  assail  and  oppose 
every  measure  he  proposed  for  the  public  good :  it  was  enough 
for  him  to  propose,  for  them  to  oppose  and  upbraid.  The 
patience,  equanimity,  and  smiling  consciousness  of  rectitude 
which  composed  him  all  the  time  of  his  darkest  trials,  and  kept 
him  firm  in  the  righteousness  of  his  course,  were  more  than  any 
ordinary  human  virtue.  He  was  calm,  cautious,  forbearing, 
forgiving,  hopeful,  and  cheerful  all  the  time,  and  no  bitterness 
disturbed  his  placid  contemplation  of  his  exact  situation  and 
duty.  His  only  weakness  was  that  he  could  hardly  say  "no" 
to  a  friend,  and  was  ever  ready  to  try  to  appease  a  foe.  He 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  213 

was  unlimited  in  his  confidence  to  the  one,  and  ever  charitable 
and  gracious  to  the  other.  He  never  spoke  harshly  of  his 
revilers,  and  often  provoked  his  friends  by  offering  excuses  and 
apologies  for  them  ;  yet  his  enemies  not  only  drove  him  to 
vetoes,  tried  to  force  him  to  resign,  endeavored  to  deprive  him 
of  a  Cabinet,  and  rejected  his  nominations  to  places  entitled 
to  his  Executive  confidence  in  the  Cabinet  and  foreign  missions, 
but  actually  withheld  from  him  the  ordinary  appropriations  for 
the  expenses  of  the  Executive  office. 

His  private  secretary  has  published  to  the  world  that  "  such 
was  the  bitterness  of  party  feeling" — he  ought  to  have  said, 
"  such  was  the  bitterness  of  party  leaders'7 — that  "  no  appropria 
tion  was  made  by  Congress  either  for  furnishing  the  White 
House  or  for  the  office  of  private  secretary,  or  for  the  inci 
dental  expenses  of  fuel,  lights,  doorkeepers,"  etc.  Yet  he  kept 
the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  or  mildly  stood  a  steady  target  for 
every  missile  of  rancor,  meanness,  and  malice.  They  passed 
his  great  soul,  his  firm  virtue,  harmless  to  him,  but  destructive, 
deadly  destructive,  in  reaction  against  the  fiendish  foes  who  had 
no  scruples  and  no  shame. 

Mr.  Tyler's  first  Cabinet  was  nominated  and  confirmed  on 
the  13th  of  September,  1841. 

In  March,  1843,  Mr.  Forward,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  re 
signed,  and  Mr.  Spencer  was  transferred  from  the  War  Depart 
ment  to  that  of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Gushing,  of  Massachusetts, 
having  been  first  nominated  and  rejected  by  the  Senate.  Mr. 
Webster,  having  accomplished  his  great  work  of  the  North 
eastern  boundary,  the  settlement  of  the  Caroline  and  McLeod 
affairs,  and  the  right  of  search  with  Great  Britain,  resigned 
the  office  of  Secretary  of  State  in  May,  1843.  Mr.  Legare  was 
appointed  to  act  ad  interim  in  his  place,  and  died  June  20, 
1843.  In  July,  1843,  the  Cabinet  was  reorganized,  three  vacan 
cies  existing  in  it  at  the  time,  those  of  State,  War,  and  the  At 
torney-Generalship.  Abel  P.  Upshur  was  then  made  Secretary 
of  State;  John  C.  Spencer  was  continued  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury;  James  M.  Porter,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  made  Secretary 
of  War;  David  Henshaw,  of  Massachusetts,  was  made  Secre- 


2U  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

tary  of  the  Navy ;  John  Nelson,  of  Maryland,  Attorney-Gen 
eral,  and  Charles  Wickliffe  continued  Postmaster-General.  At 
the  next  session  of  the  Senate,  the  nominations  of  Messrs. 
Porter  and  Henshaw  were  rejected,  and  William  Wilkins,  of 
Pennsylvania,  was  made  Secretary  of  War,  and  Thomas  W. 
Gilmer,  of  Virginia,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  both  of  whom  were 
confirmed  February  15,  1844.  Thus  the  Cabinet  stood:  Up- 
shur,  of  State  ;  Spencer,  of  the  Treasury ;  Wilkins,  of  War ; 
Gilmer,  of  the  Navy ;  Nelson,  Attorney-General ;  Wickliffe, 
Postmaster-General, — when  the  awful  catastrophe  of  the  "de 
structive  Peacemaker,"  on  board  the  steam  frigate  Princeton, 
occurred  on  the  Potomac  River,  the  28th  of  February,  1844. 
And  here  we  must  indulge  in  an  episode. 


CHAPTER   XL  ; 

i 

THE    SIXTH    DECADE,    FROM    184O    TO   185O. 

Vacancy  in  the  Supreme  Court — The  Case  of  Vidal  et  al.  vs.  Girard's  Executors — 
Sergeant,  Binney,  Webster,  Jones — Reason  why  Sergeant  and  Binney  de 
clined — How  Mr.  Calhouu  was  called  to  the  Department  of  State — A  Per 
sonal  Scene  with  Mr.  Tyler  after  the  Catastrophe  of  the  Princeton — The 
New  Cabinet. 

ON  the  8th  of  February,  1844,  having  been  nominated  and 
confirmed  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  the  empire  of  Brazil, 
we  resigned  our  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States.  Previous  to  that  time  there 
was  a  vacancy  in  the  Supreme  Court  caused  by  the  death  of 
that  eminent  jurist  and  patriot,  Judge  Henry  Baldwin.  Mr. 
Tyler  requested  the  place  to  be  tendered  in.  his  name  to  Mr. 
John  Sergeant,  of  Philadelphia.  There  was  a  delicacy  and 
embarrassment  in  obeying  the  request,  and  so  the  President 
was  informed. 

We  had  some  apprehension  that  the  tender  would  be  repulsed, 
coming  from  Mr.  Tyler,  whose  course  Mr.  Sergeant  had  con 
demned,  through  one  who  had  vindicated  that  course  and  the 
good  faith  of  the  President.  Mr.  Sergeant  was  stern  and  proud 
in  his  integrity,  and  extremely  jealous  on  the  point  of  honor. 
Mr.  Tyler  said  Mr.  Sergeant  was  a  man  of  the  highest  probity 
and  the  most  distinguished  ability;  that  his  condemnation  of 
his  course  respecting  the  fiscal  corporation  arose  entirely  from- 
misapprehension  and  misunderstanding,  and  he  honored  him 
the  more  for  acting  on  an  honest  conviction,  though  that  con 
viction  was  founded  on  mistake,  and  was  unjust  to  himself;  he 
knew  he  was  honest  and  able  far  above  most  men,  and  the 
country  and  Supreme  Court  should  not  be  deprived  of  his  name 

(  JIB) 


216  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

and  services  for  any  personal  misjudgment  of  himself  or  his 
course.  He  insisted  on  tendering  him  the  place.  At  the  time 
the  tender  was  made,  the  great  case  of  Yidal  et  al.  vs.  Girard's 
executors  was  before  the  Supreme  Court. 

Originally  Mr.  Sergeant  was  the  counsel  of  the  city  of  Phila 
delphia  in  that  case,  and  he  had  at  the  previous  term  of  the  court 
ably  argued,  and,  in  fact,  won  the  case, — mainly  on  the  ground  of 
the  decisions  of  the  Pennsylvania  courts  on  the  doctrine  of  chari 
table  uses.  But  anxiety  was  felt  concerning  the  issue  by  the  city, 
and  the  decision  was  deferred,  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Sergeant 
in  part,  in  order  that  Mr.  Binney  might  add  his  great  weight 
of  argument  and  authority  to  his  own.  Thus  time  was  gained 
for  the  deliberate  preparation  of  great  minds  for  the  final 
struggle  on  the  important  doctrine  involved  in  the  law.  Mr. 
Binney  went  to  England  and  conferred  with  Lord  Campbell,  in 
order  that  he  might  study  and  scan  the  rolls  on  the  doctrine  of 
charitable  uses.  He  came  back  thoroughly  armed,  bringing 
new  armor  from  the  unpublished  rolls  on  that  doctrine.  His 
aim  was  to  subvert  the  doctrines  laid  down  by  Judge  Marshall 
and  Judge  Tucker  in  the  cases  which  had  gone  up  previously 
from  Yirginia.  Daniel  Webster  and  Walter  Jones  were  arrayed 
against  Sergeant  and  Binney.  It  was  the  heaviest  of  forensic 
artillery  duels.  Sergeant  had  made  his  arguments  most  over 
whelming  on  the  grounds  of  Pennsylvania  decisions,  regardless 
of  the  doctrines  maintained  in  cases  coming  from  Yirginia. 
Binney  was  now  prepared  to  show  not  only  that  the  doctrines 
of  charitable  uses,  insisted  on  by  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  were 
those  of  the  State  from  which  the  case  came,  but  that  they 
were  the  true  doctrines  of  the  common  law  and  of  the  State  of 
Yirginia,  and  ought  to  prevail  in  every  State  and  everywhere. 
This  was  his  burden  to  show,  and  his  work  was  not  supererog 
atory  or  vain, — useless  to  win  the  Girard  case,  but  invaluable 
in  teaching  the  sound  law  of  charitable  uses.  The  case  was 
doubly  won,  first  by  Sergeant  on  the  American  law,  and  then 
by  Binney  on  the  English  law.  The  forensic  display  in  the  case 
was  grand  on  both  sides. 

Mr.  Jones's  three  points  in  the  case  were  : 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  21 1 

1.  The  bequest  of  the  College  fund  was  void  by  reason  of  the 
uncertainty  of  the  cestui  que  trust. 

2.  The  corporation  of  Philadelphia  was  not  authorized  by  its 
charter  to  administer  the  trusts  of  the  legacy,  and  no  other 
trustee  could  be  substituted  without  defeating  the  intentions  of 
the  testator. 

3.  Even  if  otherwise  capable  of  taking  effect,  the  trust  would 
be  void,  because  the  plan  of  education  proposed  was  anti-Chris 
tian,  and  therefore  repugnant  to  the  law  of  Pennsylvania.    (See 
Yidal  and  others  vs.  Girard  Ex'rs,  2d  Howard,  143,  January 
Term,  1844.) 

Mr.  Jones  said,  "  A  part  of  this  devise  would  make  it  a  curse 
to  any  civilized  land.  It  is  a  cruel  experiment  upon  poor 
orphan  boys  to  shut  them  up  and  make  them  the  victims  of  a 
philosophical  speculation,"  etc. 

In  his  quiet,  insinuating,  lisping  tones,  he  said,  "  Mr.  Girard 
had  devised  mere  nourishment  for  the  mind,  without  care  of 
moral  instruction,  and  the  Trustees  had  expended  an  immense 
sum  in  erecting  a  temple  of  marble  to  the  'unknown  God.' 
The  testator  had  not  meant  to  make  the  College  religiously  free, 
but  to  make  it  free  of  all  religion.  The  orphans  needed  a  fish, 
and  they  were  given  a  serpent ;  bread,  and  they  had  gotten  a 
stone!" 

All  this  was  taken  to  be  personal  to  Mr.  Sergeant,  who  was 
one  of  the  chief  counselors  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia  in  admin 
istering  the  charity  ;  and  the  point  of  Mr.  Jones  was  a  poniard 
to  him, — the  more  so,  because  he  had  always  admired  and 
respected  Mr.  Jones  as  one  of  the  first  forensic  men  of  his  day. 
Jones  did  not  seem  to  be  conscious  of  where  or  whom  his  point 
touched,  but  whilst  he  was  speaking  in  front  of  the  judge's 
seat,  Mr.  Sergeant  was  boiling  with  indignation  and  wrath  in 
the  court  lobby,  and  the  moment  Mr.  Jones  was  done  he  took 
him  to  the  lobby  and  called  him  to  severe  account.  Jones 
was  astonished,  disclaimed  all  personality,  and  calmly  remon 
strated  against  Mr.  Sergeant's  wrath ;  but  the  latter  was  not 
appeased,  and  it  was  feared  that  some  one  would  have  to 
interpose  to  prevent  serious  collision  between  these  two,  giants 


218  SEVEN  DECADES   OF   THE    UNION. 

of  intellect  and  champions  of  argument,  but  both  small  in 
stature.  They  were  finally  reconciled,  however,  though  the  one 
was  sore  under  the  figure  of  speech,  and  the  other  was  sore  from 
the  scolding  he  had  got  for  it.  It  was  rich  to  see  such  a  scene 
between  two  such  men. 

Again,  there  was  another  scene.  When  Mr.  Birmey  rose  to 
deliver  his  argument,  Mr.  Webster,  having  the  conclusion,  was 
obliged,  by  rule,  to  furnish  him  with  all  his  points  and  all  his 
authorities.  This  he  did  with  great  urbanity,  just  as  Mr.  Bin- 
ney  was  about  to  open  his  address  to  the  court.  Jones  had 
been  heard,  Sergeant  had  closed,  and  Mr.  Binney  had  taken  a 
moment  to  retire  to  the  anteroom  of  the  court,  to  adjust  his 
personal  attire  and  presence.  He  was  particular  about  that, 
and  came  into  the  court  refreshed  by  water  and  smooth  from 
the  comb  and  brush.  He  was  always  very  serene  in  his  aspect, 
and,  without  a  forward  look,  expressed  a  composed  self-reliance. 
He  had  just  begun,  when  Mr.  Webster  rose  and  apologized  for 
not  having  obeyed  the  rule  before,  and  then  cited  his  points  and 
references.  Mr.  Binney  paused  to  hear  him,  with  his  arms 
folded,  and  when  he  was  done  smiled  a  sweet  smile  of  indiffer 
ence,  and  gently  said,  with  a  slight  wave  of  his  hand,  that  he 
"fully  excused  his  learned  brother  for  his  delay  of  citation,  for 
he  would  have  no  occasion  to  touch  a  single  point,  or  any 
thing  cited  by  him,"  and  then  unfolded  that  masterly  treatise 
on  charitable  uses,  which  his  great  argument  deserves  to  be 
called, — a  standard  of  authority  now  on  the  doctrines  then  in 
debate. 

Mr.  Webster  was  taken  aback,  and  staggered. 

Mr.  Binney  was  no  better  lawyer  than  Mr.  Sergeant,  but  was 
a  far  better  speaker,  and  his  style  was  as  rich  and  pure  as  that 
of  any  other  orator  or  writer  of  English  in  his  day.  His  eulogy 
on  his  professional  brother  and  rival  and  friend,  Mr.  Sergeant,  is 
a  gem  of  encomiastic  composition.  His  forte  was  lucid  order, 
perfectly  expressed  by  the  clearest  logic  and  the  richest  but  most 
severely  chaste  figure. 

Mr.  Sergeant's  forte  was  solid  terseness,  direct  to  the  truth, 
but  didactically  dry.  Neither  was  superior  to  Mr.  Jones  as  a 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  219 

forensic  debater,  and  all  three  were  lawyers  of  the  highest  de 
gree,  either  superior  to  Webster  in  the  court,  but  not  in  the 
Senate. 

The  evening  after  Mr.  Binney  concluded  his  great  argument, 
in  January,  1S44,  Mr.  Sergeant  was  visited  by  us,  at  his  hotel, 
to  deliver  the  message  of  Mr.  Tyler.  Mr.  Binney  was  in  the 
next  room.  Mr.  Sergeant  received  the  compliment  with  gra- 
ciousness  and  evident  pleasure  ;  but  he  hesitated  not  to  decline 
the  tender  of  a  place  on  the  Supreme  Bench.  Before  he  assigned 
his  reason  he  enjoined  secrecy  during  his  life,  and  especially 
it  was  not  to  be  disclosed  to  Mr.  Binney.  It  was  that  he  was 
past  sixty  years  of  age,  and  that  he  ought  not  to  accept ;  but 
he  regarded  Mr.  Binney  as  being  much  more  robust  than  him 
self,  considered  that  Mr.  Binney  might  accept,  and  did  not  wish 
him  to  know  that  he  had  declined  because  he  considered  him 
self  too  old,  and  requested  that  the  President  would  make  the 
tender  of  the  place  to  him.  It  was  tendered  to  Mr.  Biuney  at 
once,  and,  behold,  he  declined  it  for  the  same  reason,  but  begged 
that  Mr.  Sergeant  should  not  be  informed  of  his  reason,  and 
that  the  place  might  be  tendered  to  him. 

Neither,  we  believe,  ever  knew  the  reason  of  the  other  for 
declining. 

Mr.  Binney  said  he  had  once,  in  the  vigor  of  his  manhood, 
aspired  to  judicial  position, — to  a  seat  on  the  Supreme  Bench 
of  Pennsylvania;  but  Mr.  Justice  Gibson  of  that  State  had 
been  preferred  to  him,  and  that  cured  his  ambition,  and  he  had 
never  since  aspired  to  the  bench. 

No  better  instance  than  this  could  be  given  of  Mr.  Tyler's 
magnanimity.  He  knew  that  neither  of  these  gentlemen  ap 
proved  of  his  course  as  President,  and  that  both  condemned 
him  personally  on  the  Bank  question ;  but  he  knew  that  they 
were  good  and  great  men,  and  he  forgot  his  own  grievances, 
personally,  for  the  sake  of  the  public  good.  He  was  remark 
able  for  his  faculty  of  selecting  the  right  men  for  the  right 
places,  and  hardly  ever  allowed  a  personal  predilection  to 
prevail. 

Mr.   Binney  was   among   the  warmest   admirers  of  Judge 


220  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

Marshall.  He  was  his  critic  of  the  "  Life  of  Washington." 
The  evening  he  declined  a  place  on  the  Supreme  Bench  he 
naturally  conversed  on  the  Girard  case  and  the  doctrines  it 
involved.  He  said  that  Judge  Marshall's  decisions  on  the 
cases  from  Virginia  were  the  only  authorities  he  had  reason  to 
dread  in  the  case,  but  that  charitable  uses  were  exactly  the 
sort  of  subject  on  which  Judge  Marshall  could  err ;  that  they 
were  purely  arbitrary  and  artificial  doctrines,  and  required  great 
learning  and  research,  which  Judge  Marshall  had  not  bestowed, 
and,  great  as  he  was,  incalculable  as  was  the  good  he  had 
done  on  the  bench,  he  doubted  very  much  whether  that  good 
was  not  largely  counterbalanced  by  his  great  error,  for  the 
want  of  learning,  on  the  subject  of  charitable  uses. 

To  return  to  the  catastrophe  of  the  Princeton.  We  were  a 
few  evenings  after  sitting  again  with  Mr.  Sergeant  in  his  room 
at  Gadsby's  Hotel,  conversing  at  ease,  when  the  notable  waiter 
on  his  room,  John  Sable,  black,  with  moonshine  eyes,  always 
smiling  and  showing  his  teeth  in  white  contrast  with  his  ebony, 
entered,  smiling  as  ever,  and  bowing  complacently  to  Mr.  Ser 
geant  and  his  guests.  Mr.  Sergeant  saluted  him,  saying, 
"  Well,  John,  what  is  the  news  to-day  ?"  John  smiled  more 
winningly  still,  and  bowed  lower,  replying,  "  Well,  sir,  none  but 
very  sad,  just  come  this  moment, — the  Peacemaker  is  busted, 
and  it  is  said  Mr.  Upshur  and  others  are  killed  and  wounded, — 
the  hack  is  just  from  the  wharf  with  the  news."  This  was  the 
first  announcement  to  us  of  the  sad  event,  and  was  the  more 
shocking  from  its  contrast  with  John's  smiling  and  bowing. 
We  immediately  sprang  down  the  stairway  to  the  street  front 
door.  There  was  a  large  crowd  already  gathered,  each  inquir 
ing  of  the  hacks  just  driven  up,  "  Who  was  killed,  —  who 
injured  ?"  In  the  crowd,  at  the  right,  we  saw  the  figure  of 
young  Abel  Upshur,  the  brother  of  Mrs.  Upshur  (she  was  a 
Miss  Upshur),  and  as  soon  as  one  of  the  hack-drivers  answered 
that  Mr.  Upshur,  Mr.  Gilmer,  and  others  were  killed,  he  burst 
from  the  crowd  and  ran  for  Mrs.  Upshur's  residence.  To  pre 
vent  the  shock  of  his  sudden  announcement,  we  pursued  him 
in  a  hack,  but  he  outran  the  hack,  and  had  already  when  we 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  221 

arrived  stunned  Mrs.  Upshur,  her  daughter,  and  sister.  We 
never  saw  such  dumb  and  dismal  grief.  Mrs.  Upshur  sat  tear 
less,  with  eyes  staring  and  fixed  on  vacancy,  alternately  raising 
her  hands  and  letting  them  fall  on  her  lap,  repeating  incessantly, 
"  It  can't  be  so  !  it  can't  be  so  !"  And  the  daughter,  afterwards 
Mrs.  Ringgold,  one  of  the  softest,  sweetest  images  of  her  father, 
sank  in  the  most  piteous  moaning  for  her  father,  who  had  cher 
ished  her  with  the  fondest  devotion  and  tenderness.  We  gave 
to  them,  and  after  them  to  Mrs.  Gilmer,  all  the  consolation  in  our 
power,  took  their  requests  to  proceed  the  next  morning  to  the 
steamer,  there  to  see  the  bodies,  and  retired  late  at  night  to  reflect 
on  what  the  administration  was  to  do  in  filling  the  vacancies  in 
the  Cabinet.  We  came  at  once  to  our  conclusions.  Mr.  Web 
ster  remained  in  the  Cabinet  until  the  Northeastern  question 
was  settled,  and  as  long  as  Upshur  or  Legare  was  alive,  the 
Southwestern  question  was  in  safe  Southern  hands ;  but  now 
that  they  were  both  taken  away,  there  was  one  man  left  who  was 
necessary  above  all  others  to  the  South  in  settling  and  obtaining 
the  annexation  of  Texas.  We  need  hardly  say  that  man  was 
John  C.  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina.  But  we  knew  that,  for 
some  reason  of  which  we  were  never  informed,  the  President  was 
opposed  to  calling  him  to  his  Cabinet.  It  is  vain  to  conjecture 
the  reason,  and  we  are  utterly  unable  to  account  for  the  fact,  but 
the  fact  was  known,  and  that  caused  us  to  be  guilty  of  assuming 
an  authority  and  taking  a  liberty  with  the  President  which  few 
men  would  have  excused  and  few  would  have  taken.  We 
thought  of  Mr.  McDuffie,  then  in  the  Senate,  and  determined 
to  act  through  him.  The  President,  in  1843,  at  the  instance  of 
the  Hon.  Baillie  Peyton,  had  sent  our  name  to  the  Senate  for 
the  mission  to  France,  and  the  nomination  was  rejected  at  a 
moment  when  it  was  the  rule  of  party  not  to  allow  him  to  have 
any  of  his  own  friends  in  appointments  when  the  Opposition 
could  prevent.  Thus,  Mr.  Gushing,  for  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Porter, 
of  Pennsylvania,  for  the  War,  and  Mr.  Henshaw,  of  Massachu 
setts,  for  the  Navy,  were  all  rejected ;  and  when  our  name  for 
France  was  before  the  Senate,  and  the  doctrine  was  openly 
avowed  that  the  President  should  not  be  allowed  to  have  his 


222  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

own  friends  in  place,  Mr.  McDuffie  had  met  the  dogma  as  it 
deserved,  and  denounced  it  with  great  cogency  and  spirit,  Our 
nomination  hardly  deserved  the  defense  he  made,  but  its  natural 
effect  was  to  draw  us  to  him  in  personal  gratitude  for  the  vindi 
cation  which  it  caused  in  1843-44  by  the  confirmation  of  our 
mission  to  Brazil.  We  determined,  through  him,  to  act  on  Mr. 
Calhoun,  whilst  we  took  unprecedented  license  with  Mr.  Tyler. 
Before  breakfast,  by  sunrise  the  next  morning,  the  29th  of 
February,  1844,  we  visited  Mr.  MeDuffie's  parlor.  He  was  not 
dressed,  but  came  down  in  his  slippers  and  robe-de-chambre. 
We  excused  our  calling  so  early  by  the  exigency  arising  from 
the  catastrophe  on  board  the  Princeton,  and  immediately  in 
quired  whether  Mr.  Calhoun,  in  his  opinion,  could  be  prevailed 
on  to  accept  the  State  Department  with  a  view  to  the  vital 
question  of  annexation.  He  admitted  the  magnitude  of  the 
interest  involved,  and  how  desirable  it  was  to  have  it  negotiated 
by  Mr.  Calhoun,  but  feared  that  he  would  not  accept.  We 
then  urged  him  to  write  to  Mr.  Calhoun  immediately,  saying 
that  his  name  would,  in  all  probability,  be  sent  to  the  Senate 
at  once,  and  begging  him  not  to  decline  the  office  if  his  nomi 
nation  should  be  made  and  confirmed.  Mr.  McDuffie's  delicacy 
towards  us  doubtless  prevented  him  from  inquiring  whether  we 
spoke  by  Mr.  Tyler's  authority  or  not,  and  we  made  no  state 
ment  to  him  pro  or  con.  on  that  point,  but  presume  he  must 
have  supposed  that  we  were  authorized  to  make  the  request, 
for  he  promised  to  write  to  Mr.  Calhoun  at  once. 

On  parting  from  him  we  went  directly  to  the  presidential 
mansion  to  breakfast.  At  the  gate  of  the  White  House  grounds 
we  met  Judge  John  B.  Christian,  of  Virginia,  the  brother-in- 
law  of  Mr.  Tyler,  and,  when  we  reached  the  house,  found  Mr. 
Tyler  and  Dr.  Miller,  another  brother-in-law  of  his,  in  the 
breakfast-room.  Mr.  Tyler  was  standing  with  his  right  elbow 
resting  on  the  mantel  of  the  fireplace,  and  held  a  morning  paper 
in  his  left  hand,  containing  an  account  of  the  awful  catastrophe 
of  the  day  before.  As  soon  as  he  saw  us  he  accosted  us  with 
tremulous  emotion,  saying  how  humbled  he  was  by  his  provi 
dential  escape  whilst  such  invaluable  friends  had  fallen  from 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  223 

around  him,  and  he  turned  his  face  to  the  wall  in  a  flood  of 
tears.  We  came  to  his  relief  at  once  by  saying  that  it  was 
no  time  for  mourning  or  wasting  himself  in  grief, — that  the 
moment  called  for  prompt  action  and  attention  to  duty,  and 
that  his  work  was  pressing  and  heavy.  It  was  an  auspicious 
time,  at  least,  to  nominate  for  the  vacancies  in  his  Cabinet,  when 
the  dignity  and  solemnity  of  public  grief  for  so  great  a  calamity 
would  shame  and  hush  all  factious  opposition,  and  human  sym 
pathy  alone  at  such  a  moment  would  confirm  the  nominations 
he  would  then  make  to  the  Senate.  There  were  too  many 
important  affairs  to  be  disposed  of  in  this  last  year  of  his  term 
of  office  to  admit  of  delay.  He  must  subdue  his  grief  and  find 
relief,  the  best  relief,  in  turning  to  his  tasks.  He  asked  at 
once,  "  What  is  to  be  done  ?"  The  answer  was  ready  :  "  Your 
most  important  work  is  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and  the  man 
for  that  work  is  Mr.  Calhoun.  Send  for  him  at  once." 

His  air  changed  at  once,  and  he  quickly  and  firmly  said, 
"  No :  Texas  is  important,  but  Mr.  Calhouu  is  not  the  man  of 
my  choice." 

Aided  by  Judge  Christian  and  Dr.  Miller,  we  reasoned  with 
him,  though  in  vain,  until  the  bell  rang  for  breakfast.  At  the 
table  the  conversation  turned  on  the  calamity  of  the  previous 
day  ;  and  the  President  gave  a  minute  description  of  the 
manner  in  which  by  the  most  trivial  circumstance  he  had  been 
detained  in  the  cabin  at  the  table  with  the  ladies,  whilst  Stock 
ton,  Upshur,  Gilmer,  Kennon,  Maxcy,  Gardner,  and  Benton  all 
went  up  on  deck  to  witness  the  trial  of  the  Peacemaker! 
During  the  whole  breakfast  we  were  exceedingly  uneasy,  think 
ing  how  we  should  prevail  upon  him  to  nominate  Mr.  Calhoun 
and  justify  us  to  Mr.  McDuffie.  Of  this  we  were  assured,  that 
if  Mr.  McDuffie's  letter  reached  Mr.  Calhoun  before  a  nomina 
tion  was  made,  he,  Mr.  Calhoun,  would  decline  the  nomination, 
and  thus  waive  our  committal  to  Mr.  McDuffie ;  but  if  Mr. 
Tyler  should  nominate  before  Mr.  Calhoun  replied,  declining, 
then  we  would  be  in  an  awkward  position,  as  having  made  an 
implied  committal  to  his  nomination.  But  "  the  policy  of 
rashness"  saved  us,  as  it  had  often  done  before  and  has  often 


224  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

done  since,  and  sent  in  Mr.  Calhoun's  nomination.  As  soon 
as  breakfast  was  over,  we  rose,  hat  in  hand,  to  depart,  went 
with  some  impressiveness  of  manner  directly  up  to  Mr.  Tyler, 
and  said,  "  Sir,  in  saying  good-morning  to  you  now,  I  may  be 
taking  a  lasting  farewell.  I  have  unselfishly  tried  to  be  your 
friend  and  to  aid  your  administration  of  public  affairs,  and  have, 
doubtless,  your  kind  feelings  and  confidence ;  but  I  fear  I  have 
done  that  which  will  forfeit  your  confidence  and  cause  us  to  be 
friends  no  longer.  You  say  that  you  will  not  nominate  Mr. 
Calhoun  as  your  Secretary  of  State.  If  so,  then  I  have  done 
both  you  and  him  a  great  wrong,  and  must  go  immediately  to 
Mr.  McDuffie  to  apologize  for  causing  him  to  commit  himself, 
and  you  too,  by  an  unauthorized  act  of  mine." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?"  exclaimed  the  President,  evidently 
disturbed. 

"  I  mean  that  this  morning,  before  coming  here,  uninvited, 
to  breakfast,  I  went  to  Mr.  McDuffie  and  prevailed  on  him 
to  write  to  Mr.  Calhoun  and  ask  him  to  accept  the  place  of 
Secretary  of  State  at  your  hands." 

"Did  you  say  you  went  at  my  instance  to  make  that  request  ?" 

"  No,  I  did  not  in  words,  but  my  act,  as  your  known  friend, 
implied  as  much,  and  Mr.  McDuffie  was  too  much  of  a  gentle 
man  to  ask  me  whether  I  had  authority  express  from  you.  I 
went  to  him  without  your  authority,  for  the  very  reason  that  I 
knew  I  could  not  obtain  it ;  and  I  did  not  tell  Mr.  McDuffie  that 
I  had  not  your  authority,  for  I  knew  he  would  not  in  that  case 
have  written  to  Mr.  Calhoun  as  I  had  requested.  And  now, 
if  you  do  not  sanction  what  I  have  done,  you  will  place  me 
where  you  would  be  loath  to  place  a  foe,  much  less  a  friend.  I 
can  hardly  be  your  friend  any  longer  unless  you  sanction  my 
unauthorized  act  for  your  own  sake,  not  my  own." 

He  looked  at  us  in  utter  surprise  for  some  minutes,  and  then, 
lifting  both  hands,  said,  "  Well,  you  are  the  most  extraordinary 
man  I  ever  saw  ! — the  most  willful  and  wayward,  the  most 
incorrigible!  and  therefore  there  is  no  help  for  it.  No  one 
else  would  have  done  it  in  this  way  but  you,  and  you  are  the 
only  man  who  could  have  done  it  with  me.  Take  the  office 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  225 

and  tender  it  to  Mr.  Calhoun ;  I  doubtless  am  wrong  in  re 
fusing  the  services  of  such  a  man.  You  may  write  to  him 
yourself  at  once." 

We  answered  that  we  would  do  no  such  thing,  for  if  Mr. 
Calhoun  was  given  time  to  do  so  he  would  decline ;  and  we 
therefore  asked  that  his  name  should  be  sent  to  the  Senate  at 
once,  when  it  would  be  confirmed,  and  then  he  could  not  de 
cline.  This  was  done  ;  Mr.  Calhoun's  nomination  was  sent  in 
and  confirmed  even  before  Mr.  McDuffie's  letter  reached  him. 
Thus  was  that  great  and  good  man  secured  to  the  state,  and 
we  had  the  honor  and  satisfaction  of  serving  under  his  wise 
instructions  in  the  first  year  of  our  mission.  He  was  the 
ablest  executive  man  of  his  day;  his  forte  was  in  the  Cabi 
net,  not  in  the  Senate.  He  was  pure  and  simple  in  heart  as  a 
child,  and  had  no  equal  in  mental  abstraction.  Mr.  Tyler  never 
had  reason  to  repent  our  wayward  procurement  of  Mr.  Cal 
houn's  nomination  ;  and  neither  Mr.  Calhoun  nor  Mr.  McDuffie 
ever  knew,  so  far  as  we  are  informed,  how  it  was  procured. 
The  honor  to  Mr.  Calhoun  was  that  of  having  his  name  sent 
to  the  Senate  without  his  knowledge  or  consent,  and  of  having 
it  confirmed  without  being  informed  even  that  it  had  been  sent 
in.  No  Senate  would  have  dared  to  reject  his  nomination. 

From  the  White  House  that  morning  we  went  to  the  steamer 
Princeton,  then  lying  down  the  river  a  little  below  Alexandria. 
Our  first  care  was  to  wait  upon  Commodore  Stockton.  He  was 
lying  in  his  state-room,  scorched  and  burnt  almost  blind ;  but 
he  was  a  hero,  and  could  bear  physical  suffering  without  a 
groan, — a  generous  and  noble  hero,  who  felt  most  the  mental 
agony  of  having  been,  though  innocently,  the  instrument  of  the 
visitation  of  Providence.  We  offered  him  the  solace  coming 
from  two  of  the  afflicted  families  that  amidst  their  own  grief 
they  sympathized  with  him.  They  and  all  knew  how  devotedly 
he  had  labored  to  give  to  the  navy  a  model  ship,  the  Princeton, 
armed  with  the  "  Peacemaker,"  and  how  far  removed  from  all 
blame  or  reproach  his  motives  were  in  having  on  board  such  an 
assemblage  of  dignitaries  to  witness  the  trial  of  his  gun,  thought 
to  be  an  assured  success,  having  been  thoroughly  tested.  His 

15 


226  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

eyes  were  bandaged ;  but  we  could  perceive  the  explosion  of  his 
feelings,  and  his  bosom  heaved  as  if  it,  too,  would  burst.  He 
reached  out  his  hand,  which  we  grasped  in  friendship  for  life ; 
and  we  have  now  hanging  before  us  a  picture  of  the  Princeton, 
painted  for  him  in  New  York  at  considerable  cost,  and  which 
was  very  fine  until  captured  and  injured  in  the  late  civil  war. 

The  "  Peacemaker"  was  placed  on  the  bow  of  the  vessel. 
The  commodore  had  a  splendid  collation  in  the  cabin,  and,  be 
fore  the  gun  was  fired,  had  invited  all  his  guests  below  to  par 
take  of  his  generous  hospitality.  The  ladies  and  the  President 
were  first  shown  to  the  table,  and  the  former,  being  afraid  of 
the  gun,  kept  below  and  detained  the  President  with  them. 
Those  who  went  up  to  witness  the  firing  had  just  partaken  of 
the  wine,  and  parted  from  the  ladies  and  the  President  with 
toasts  to  the  "  Commodore  and  his  Peacemaker."  The  awful 
scene,  as  it  occurred  on  deck,  was  fully  described  by  officers 
and  men  of  the  ship.  It  seems  that  there  had  been  a  foreboding 
with  some,  openly  expressed  before  the  accident,  that  it  or 
something  like  it  would  happen.  One  of  the  seamen,  an  "old 
salt,"  told  us  that  Secretary  Upshur  distrusted  the  gun,  and, 
just  before  the  moment  of  firing,  desired  him  to  place  him  at  a 
point  of  safety.  The  gun  was,  as  we  have  said,  on  the  bow; 
the  seaman  placed  the  Secretary  a  little  aport,  with  the  fore 
mast  directly  between  him  and  the  breech  of  the  gun.  Alas! 
how  singular  that,  though  the  "  salt's"  experience  put  the 
Secretary  at  the  very  point  where  injury  was  least  to  have  been 
expected,  he  was  struck  by  two  fragments  of  the  torn  cast-iron, 

by  one  immediately  over  the  right  brow,  cutting  to  the  bone 

parallel  with  the  brow  its  whole  length,  so  that  it  fell  like  a  flap 
over  the  eye,  and  by  the  other  on  the  watch-fob  of  his  panta 
loons,  breaking  his  watch-crystal  and  instantly  stopping  the 
hands  of  the  watch.  We  carefully  bore  the  watch,  as  it  was 
taken  from  his  person,  home  to  his  family,  and  requested 
them  to  mark  the  time  it  told,  as  his  pulse  had  ceased  with 
the  tick  of  the  watch  when  its  hands  were  stopped.  His  noble 
head — a  finer  structure  than  that  of  Webster — was  crushed  by 
the  blow  on  the  brow,  and  the  concussion  on  his  side  must  have 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  227 

taken  away  his  breath  instantly.  Stockton,  who  never  knew 
fear,  and  who  was  more  than  sanguine  of  the  success  of  his 
experiment,  stood  on  the  port  side  of  the  gun,  immediately 
beside  or  opposite  the  touch-hole,  with  Mr.  Gilmer,  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  to  his  right.  Commodore  Kennon,  Mr.  Gardner,  and 
Mr.  Maxcy  were  standing  between  Mr.  Upshur  and  the  port 
gunwale,  Kennon  a  little  aft.  On  the  starboard  side  Mr.  Benton 
had  his  hand  resting  on  the  bow  carronade,  and  a  colored  man 
servant  was  leaning  his  breast  on  the  same  carronade.  The 
gun  was  fired,  and  the  havoc  was  shocking.  Stockton  was 
struck  down  blind ;  Gilmer's  body,  broken  and  crushed  in  every 
part,  was  driven  to  the  port  gunwale  on  the  deck,  looking  like 
a  wad  of  blue  cloth,  he  having  on  a  full  circle  Spanish  cloak; 
two  fragments  struck  the  deck  between  the  foremast  and  the 
gunwale,  and,  ricocheting,  made  an  angle  around  the  foremast 
and  struck  Upshur  as  we  have  described ;  Gardner  and  Maxcy 
were  struck  directly  by  the  powder-blast  and  killed  outright ; 
Kennon  instantly  fell,  but  rose  to  his  elbow,  and  breathed  a 
few  moments  in  the  arms  of  a  sailor ;  and  the  breech-pin  of  the 
gun,  blown  obliquely  starboard,  struck  the  bow  carronade,  and 
the  concussion  knocked  Mr.  Benton  senseless  and  killed  the  ser 
vant.  The  story  was  that  General  Jackson  always  doubted 
whether  Benton  had  his  right  mind  afterwards. 

By  the  time  we  reached  the  ship,  the  gallant  and  gentlemanly 
officers  had  performed  their  sad  offices  well ;  the  dead  bodies 
were  bound  up  with  that  neatness  which  characterizes  sailors' 
work,  and  decently  laid  out  in  their  clothes,  and  were  ready  to 
be  placed  in  charge  of  friends.  We  took  the  bodies  of  Upshur 
anfl  Gilmer  in  our  charge,  and  saw  to  them  until  the  last  sad 
rites  were,  performed. 

This  catastrophe  imposed  upon  Mr.  Tyler  the  necessity  of 
forming  his  Cabinet  anew.  He  appointed  John  C.  Calhoun,  of 
South  Carolina,  Secretary  of  State ;  John  C.  Spencer,  of  New 
York,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  William  Wilkins,  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  Secretary  of  War;  John  Y.  Mason,  of'  Virginia,  Secre 
tary  of  the  Navy ;  John  Nelson,  of  Maryland,  Attorney-Gen 
eral  ;  and  Robert  Wickliffe,  of  Kentucky,  Postmaster-General. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE    SIXTH    DECADE,    FROM    184O    TO    185O. 

Departure  for  Brazil — The  Calhoun  Cabinet — The  Last  Year  of  the  Administra 
tion,  and  the  Annexation  of  Texas — Mr.  Spencer  retires — Election  of  1844— 
The  Triumph  of  Mr.  Tyler's  Policy — Comparison  with  Jefferson's  Adminis 
tration — Mr.  Tyler's  Second  Marriage — A  Scene  on  a  James  River  Steamer 
— Mr.  William  L.  Marcy  ;  Anecdotes  of  him  and  Robert  G.  Scott,  Esq.,  of 
Richmond,  Va. — The  Sherwood  Estate  of  Mr.  Tyler — His  Appointment  and 
Services  as  Overseer  of  Roads  in  Charles  City  County — His  Retirement  and 
Private  Life — Professor  Holmes's  Slur  upon  him  in  the  University  Series — 
What  he  did  in  preparing  for  the  Acquisition  of  California — The  Effect  of 
the  Gold-Mines — The  Revival  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  Controversy — The 
South  dwarfed  in  the  Union.  , 

WE  departed  for  Brazil  in  March,  1844,  leaving  the  President 
with  his  new  Cabinet  of  able  ministers  ;  and  it  is  enough  to  say 
of  them  that  they  were  the  equals  of  the  first  Cabinet  appointed 
by  Mr.  Tyler  himself. 

Calhoun  was  the  compeer  of  Webster  ;  Spencer  himself  Wtis 
in  better  position  ;  Wilkins  was  the  equal  of  Forward ;  Mason 
and  Nelson  were  worthy  successors  of  Upshur  and  Legare  ; 
and  Wickliffe  remained  the  same  efficient  master  of  his  place. 

The  last  year  of  Mr.  Tyler's  administration  was  chiefly  em 
ployed  in  negotiations  for  the  annexation  of  Texas.  The  Maine 
boundary  had  been  settled  by  Mr.  Webster,  and  this  last  task 
was  appropriately  a  work  for  Mr.  Calhoun.  Spain  had  regained 
her  possession  of  Texas  in  1692.  A  part  of  it,  as  far  west  as  the 
Colorado,  had  been  claimed  by  the  United  States  as  a  part  of 
Louisiana,  in  1818,  but  by  the  treaty  which  ceded  Florida  to  the 
United  States,  in  1819,  the  boundary  of  the  United  States  had 
been  fixed  at  the  river  Sabine.  By  the  battles  of  Gonzalez,  the 
Alamo,  Goliad,  and  San  Jacinto,  Texas  gained  her  independence, 
(  228  ^ 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  229 

and  in  183T  she  sought  admission  into  the  Union.  Her  tender 
of  annexation  was  rejected  by  Mr.  Yan  Buren,  though  his  Sec 
retary  of  State,  Mr.  Forsyth,  was  a  Georgian. 

Northern  jealousy  of  any  more  acquisition  of  territory  in  the 
South  prevented  the  Locofoco  dynasty  from  venturing  to  do 
what  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  fact,  demanded.  Before 
he  was  killed,  Mr.  Upshur  had  nearly,  if  not  quite,  concluded 
negotiations  with  Yan  Zandt  and  Henderson,  the  Texas  Com 
missioners,  under  the  auspices  of  Mr.  Tyler;  and  when  Mr.  Cal- 
houn  came  in,  he  found  Upshur's  work  entirely  worthy  of  his 
approval  and  co-operation,  and  it  took  only  from  February  28 
to  April  12,  1844,  for  him  to  finish  what  Upshur  had  left  to  be 
concluded. 

On  the  12th  of  April,  1844,  Mr.  Tyler  negotiated  the  treaty 
of  annexation,  and  it  was  rejected  by  the  Senate  on  the  8th 
of  June  following.  In  less  than  two  months  this  great  acquisi 
tion  was  refused  by  a  partisan  Senate,  16  ayes  to  35  nays, 
such  was  the  unreasoning  malice  of  a  Federal  Whig  majority 
with  Northern  proclivities  against  a  measure  so  vital  to  the 
nation,  because  it  was  that  of  a  man  whom  they  were  trying  to 
balk  in  every  effort  to  serve  his  country.  But  the  wisdom  of 
the  President  was  not  to  be  defeated  by  so  stark  mad  an  oppo 
sition.  The  palm  of  winning  the  prize,  worth  the  work  of  a 
presidential  term,  was  not  to  be  lost  to  a  watchful  President, 
guarded  remarkably  by  Divine  Providence.  Notwithstanding 
Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Yan  Buren,  on  the  same  day  in  April,  1844, 
the  one  in  the  National  Intelligencer,  and  the  other  in  the 
Globe,  both  published  letters  against  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
as  "compromising,"  in  the  language  of  Mr.  Clay,  "the  national 
character,  and  dangerous  to  the  integrity  of  the  Union  ;"  yet 
the  administration  did  not  expire  before,  on  the  1st  of  March, 
1845,  a  joint  resolution  was  adopted  annexing  Texas,  and  giving 
to  an  honest  President  the  only  triumph  he  sought, — that  of 
wisdom  and  virtue.  Mr.  John  C.  Spencer,  not  concurring  in  the 
treaty  for  annexation,  had,  in  May,  1844,  resigned  his  place  in 
the  Treasury,  and  George  M.  Bibb,  of  Kentucky,  was  nominated 
and  confirmed  in  his  place. 


230  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

The  question  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  controlled  the  presi 
dential  election. 

In  May,  1844,  the  party  national  conventions  were  held. 
The  Whigs  nominated  Clay  and  Frelinghuysen,  opposed  to  an 
nexation  ;  and  the  Democrats  nominated  Polk  and  Dallas,  in 
favor  of  annexation ;  the  election  took  place  in  the  fall  of  that 
year,  and  the  people  sustained  the  administration  of  Mr.  Tyler 
by  an  overwhelming  majority  for  the  annexation  ticket.  Thus 
the  nation  itself  at  last  carried  the  question  for  Mr.  Tyler,  over 
throwing  Mr.  Clay  "  with  a  Senate  at  his  heels."  Such  a  victory 
was  never  obtained  by  a  President  without  a  party.  This 
ended  his  administration  and  crushed  all  his  enemies, — the  Fed 
eral  Whigs  and  the  Locofoco  Democrats, — the  Clays  and  Van 
Burens  of  his  opponents  and  revilers.  Victory  after  victory, 
success  after  success,  he  won,  and  boon  after  boon,  with  count 
less  blessings,  he  bestowed  on  his  country,  with  only  a  corpo 
ral's  guard  at  his  command,  against  hosts  of  numbers  and  hells 
of  hate.  This  did  not  look  like  a  upas-tree  which  blasted  all  in 
its  shade!  Let  us  compare  his  administration  with  that  of  the 
Father  of  Democracy. 

On  the  6th  of  February,  1809,  when  Mr.  Jefferson  was  ap 
proaching  the  close  of  his  administration  of  public  affairs,  and 
was  about  to  end  his  public  career,  the  Virginia  legislature 
passed  resolutions  of  eulogy  on  his  course,  which  showed  that 
he  was  a  favorite  son  of  his  mother  State ;  and  the  best  that 
could  be  said  in  his  approval,  what  was  said  in  love  and  affec 
tion  for  him,  could  have  been  said  as  truly  in  justice  to,  if  not 
in  favor  of,  Mr.  Tyler. 

First.  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration  was  praised  for  its 
pure  Republicanism.  It  was  Republican  when  there  was  a 
Republican  party,  with  power  to  enforce  Republican  policy.  Mr. 
Tyler's  was  Republican  when  there  were  none  so  poor  as  to  do 
Republicanism  reverence.  It  was  purely  Republican,  for  it  was 
so  from  choice  and  not  from  any  prospects  or  hope  of  reward. 
It  was  pure  as  martyrdom  is  always  pure,  in  contrast  with 
petted  power. 

Secondly.    Mr.  Jefferson's    administration    was   praised   for 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  231 

putting  aside  and  behind  it  all  "pomp  and  state."  If  Mr. 
Tyler  was  ambitious  for  either,  Congress  withheld  from  him 
all  support  of  either,  and  he  smiled  with  a  relish  for  the  plain 
fare  which  was  appropriated  for  his  self-denial,  not  for  his  in 
dulgence. 

Thirdly.  The  Jefferson  dynasty  was  praised  for  "patronage 
discarded."  Mr.  Tyler  was  denied  in  many  instances  the  as 
sistance  even  of  his  friends  in  office. 

Fourthly.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  praised  for  abolishing  internal 
taxes.  Mr.  Tyler  deserved  praise  for  diminishing  external 
taxes  of  the  tariff,  by  forcing  the  application  of  the  proceeds  of 
the  sale  of  the  public  lands  to  the  payment  of  the  public  debt 
and  the  current  expenses  of  the  government. 

Fifthly.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  praised  for  disbanding  superfluous 
officers.  Mr.  Tyler  was  not  allowed  a  number  sufficient  for 
either  convenience  or  economy  of  the  public  service. 

Sixthly.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  praised  for  renouncing  the  mo 
narchical  maxim  "  that  a  national  debt  is  a  national  blessing." 
Mr.  Tyler  threw  himself  into  the  breach  against  the  distribution 
of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  public  lands  whilst  the  govern 
ment  needed  revenue,  and  whilst  the  party  who  elected  him 
clamored  for  protective  duties  on  importations. 

Seventhly.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  praised  for  extinguishing  the 
natives'  right  to  one  hundred  millions  of  the  national  domain. 
Mr.  Tyler  extinguished  even  more  of  Indian  titles. 

Eighthly.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  praised  for  acquiring,  without 
guilt  or  calamity  of  conquest,  the  Territory  of  Louisiana.  With 
out  guilt  or  calamity  of  conquest,  Mr.  Tyler  acquired  the  whole 
of  Texas,  which  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  Mr.  Madi 
son,  and  Mr.  Monroe  had  not  only  failed  to  acquire,  but  had 
yielded  by  treaty,  and  thus  he  laid  the  level  foundation  for  the 
acquisition  of  the  whole  of  New  Mexico  and  California  to  the 
Pacific  by  necessary  and  just  conquest. 

Ninthly.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  praised  for  preserving  our  peace 
amidst  great  and  pressing  difficulties.  He  only  deferred  the 
war  of  free  trade  and  sailors'  rights  to  his  successor.  Mr.  Tyler 
settled  every  controversy  with  Great  Britain  in  spite  of  actual 


232  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE    UNION. 

border  hostilities,  including  the  Boundary  question  and  the  right 
of  search. 

Tenthly.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  praised  for  cultivating  the  good 
will  of  the  aborigines  and  for  extending  civilization  to  them. 
Mr.  Tyler  closed  the  bloodhound  war  of  Florida  and  brought 
that  Territory  a  sovereign  State  into  the  Union. 

Eleventhly.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  praised  for  teaching  lessons  to 
Barbaiy.  Mr.  Tyler's  method  was  higher,  in  teaching  lessons 
to  Christian  powers  in  respect  to  neutral  and  maritime  rights. 

Twelfthly.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  praised  for  preserving  inviolate 
the  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  "  without  which  genius 
and  science  are  given  to  man  in  vain."  Mr.  Tyler  lived  to 
better  purpose,  in  showing  how  a  pure  patriot  could  steadfastly 
do  bis  duty  to  his  country  and  its  Constitution  and  laws  and 
liberty,  whilst  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  ran  riot  in 
abuse  of  him  and  of  his  measures.  Arid  he  lived  to  outlive  the 
falsehood  of  defamation,  and  the  weakness  as  well  as  the  wick 
edness  of  personal  and  party  abuse.  His  noble  triumph  was 
the  public  good,  and  his  only  failure  was  to  aspire  to  office  and 
to  succeed  to  a  succession. 

It  is  pleasing  to  add  that  the  turmoils  and  troubles  of  his 
public  life  did  not  ruffle  his  temper  or  wean  his  affections  from 
the  best  things  in  life,  the  wooing  and  winning  of  another  pearl 
of  the  partnership  of  love — a  good  and  precious  wife.  Just 
before  we  parted  with  him  for  years,  in  the  month  of  March, 
1844,  he  called  for  us  in  his  plain  coach  to  ride  with  him  on  the 
Calloraina  Hills  around  Washington.  We  had  not  driven  far 
before  we  discovered  that  his  brow  was  knit  into  no  knots  of 
carking  cares  of  state.  He  turned  aside  all  allusions  to  politics, 
and  showed  signs  of  secrets  more  sacred  and  tender.  His 
friend  Mr.  Gardner,  of  Brooklyn,  New  York,  who  was  so  sud 
denly  killed  by  the  Peacemaker,  had,  shortly  before  his  death, 
returned  from  a  tour  in  Europe,  with  two  beautiful,  bright 
daughters,  and  they  were,  and  had  been  for  some  time,  in 
Washington,  young,  fresh,  and  fashioned  in  all  the  gossamer 
wings  of  the  foreign  costume  of  the  day.  We  had  always 
heard  that  "  an  old  fool  is  the  worst  of  fools  in  love-sickness," 


THE  SIXTH   DECADE.  233 

and  he  showed  the  usual  signs  of  its  contortions  into  ludicrous 
shapes  of  seeming.  He  got  it  out  at  last  that  he  thought  of 
marriage,  and  wanted  to  know  our  opinion  on  the  subject. 

"  Well,  of  course,  you  have  sought  and  found  out  some 
honored  dame  of  dignity,  who  can  bring  grace  to  the  White 
House,  and  add  to  your  domestic  comfort  ?" 

"Oh,  no  dame,  but  a  sweet  damsel !" 

"Who,  pray,  of  damsel  degree,  could  or  should  an  old  Presi 
dent  win  ?" 

He  told  us;  and  we  uttered  our  astonishment,  by  asking, 
"  Have  you  really  won  her  ?" 

He  replied,  "Yes;  and  why  should  I  not?" 

We  answered,  that  "  he  was  too  far  advanced  in  life  to  be 
imprudent  in  a  love-scrape." 

"  How  imprudent  ?"  he  asked. 

"Easily:  you  are  not  only  past  the  middle  age"  (he  was 
then  fifty-four  years  of  age),  "  but  you  are  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  that  is  a  dazzling  dignity  which  may  charm 
a  damsel  more  than  the  man  she  marries." 

"  Pooh  !"  he  cried,  chuckling.  "  Why,  my  dear  sir,  I  am  just 
full  in  my  prime  1" 

"Ah,  but  has  John  Y.  Mason  never  told  you  about  an  old 
friend  of  his,  on  the  south  side  of  the  James,  rich  and  full  of 
acres,  calling  his  African  waiter,  Toney,  into  council,  upon  the 
tender  topic  of  his  marrying  a  miss  in  her  teens?  Toney  shook 
his  head,  and  said,  'Massa,  you  think  you  can  stand  dat?' 
1  Yes,  Toney  ;  why  not?  She  is  so  sweet,  so  beautiful,  that  she 
could  make  me  rise  from  a  bed  of  illness  and  weakness  to  woo 
her  for  a  bride ;  but  I  am  yet  strong,  and  I  can  now,  as  well  as 
ever  I  could,  make  her  happy!'  'Yes  ;  but,  massa,'  said  Toney, 
1  you  is  now  in  your  prime,  dat's  true  ;  but  when  she  is  in  her 
prime,  where  den,  massa,  will  your  prime  be  ?' ' 

He  laughed  heartily  at  Toney's  philosophical  observation, 
but  afterwards  in  seriousness  said  that  he  longed  for  the  re 
newal  of  his  domestic  life,  and  had  been  fairly  caught  by  the 
flame  of  Miss  Gardner.  We  remonstrated  that  his  life  was 
renewed  in  his  children  ;  that  he  had  daughters,  lovely  daugh- 


234  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

ters,  full  of  grace,  fit  to  do  the  honors  of  the  White  House,  and 
some  of  them  were  the  elders  of  his  intended.  What  if  family 
dissent  should  make  domestic  jars  and  his  latter  days  be 
troubled  ? 

He  had  always  been  too  tender  to  the  pledges  of  his  first  love 
for  them  ever  to  withhold  from  him  their  filial  confidence,  or 
deny  to  him  his  parental  authority  to  judge  and  act  for  his 
own  happiness  ! 

We  saw  the  game  was  up,  and  then  said,  "  We  see  you  are 
bent  upon  your  last  love,  with  or  without  counsel,  and  you  have 
ever  been  too  lucky  for  us  now  to  doubt  or  distrust  your  fate. 
You  are  going  to  marry  the  damsel,  and  we  are  not  foolish 
enough  to  make  two  enemies  by  opposing  the  passion  of  the 
wooer  and  the  won." 

Thus  we  parted  for  four  years ;  and  on  the  26th  day  of  June, 
1844,  at  the  church  of  the  Ascension,  in  New  York  City,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Julia  Gardner,  whilst  we  were  running 
with  the  trade-winds  between  Madeira  and  Teneriffe.  Had  we 
known  Julia  Gardner's  virtues,  truth,  and  wisdom,  as  well  as 
we  knew  the  beauty  of  her  form,  when  her  intended  consort 
gave  us  his  confidence,  we  should  have  taken  him  by  the  hand 
and  encouraged  his  steps  to  her  side.  She  did  the  honors  of 
the  White  House,  with  bright  tact  and  grace,  for  eight  months, 
and  then  retired  with  him  to  his  country  home,  at  Sherwood 
Forest,  in  Charles  City,  doing  domestic  duty,  of  wife  and 
mother  of  many  children,  for  seventeen  years,  until  his  death 
left  her  a  widow ;  and  she  is  still  mourning  for  his  loss.  She 
has  returned  lately  from  Staten  Island,  to  live  at  last  where 
she  ever  most  enjoyed  life  and  love. 

Years  after,  when  we  returned  from  Brazil,  in  the  fall  of 
1847,  we  crossed  the  Chesapeake  to  Norfolk,  on  our  way  to 
Richmond.  At  breakfast,  in  the  National  Hotel,  whom  should 
we  find  at  the  table  but  Mr.  Tyler  and  Governor  Marcy.  of 
New  York,  hurrying  their  meal  to  take  the  same  boat  up  the 
James?  We  greeted  each  other  most  cordially,  and  never  in 
life  did  we  enjoy  a  day's  travel  more  than  we  did  that  day 
with  the  two  to  Wilson's  Landing,  where  Mr.  Tyler  stopped, 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  235 

and  with  Mr.  Marcy  to  Richmond.  Mr.  Marcy  was  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  men  we  ever  knew.  We  had  known  him  well 
during-  Mr.  Tyler's  troubles.  He  was  the  special  intimate  of 
Mr.  Gilmer,  as  Mr.  Buchanan  was  ours,  through  whom  we 
worked  in  Congress,  with  Democracy,  for  all  the  measures  of 
the  administration.  He  had  a  strongly-marked  face,  with  very 
shaggy  eyebrows,  which  he  seemed  to  train  downwards  pur 
posely  over  his  eyes,  which  were  very  keen,  piercing,  and  ob 
servant.  His  brows  seemed  to  sift  his  vision,  which  came 
into  his  look  like  spraying  beams  of  light  through  meshes  of 
hair.  Thus  his  expression  was  cunningly  concealed  whilst  he 
penetrated  your  thoughts  and  feelings.  He  did  never  exactly 
smile  or  laugh,  but  his  humor  was  rare  and  dry,  and,  when 
he  was  pleased,  the  light  of  his  eye  scintillated  more  sparkling 
through  his  brow-meshes,  and,  like  Kriss  Kringle,  he  "shook 
like  a  bowlful  of  jelly."  To  look  at  him  in  such  a  mood  was 
itself  humor. 

We  rose  when  we  reached  Wilson's  Landing,  to  see  Mr. 
Tyler  off;  and  whilst  his  baggage  was  being  removed  to  the 
wharf,  we  observed  that  he  had  a  double-seated,  four-wheeled 
wicker  carriage  for  small  children  ;  it  would  carry  two,  and  had 
a  tongue  for  extra  draft.  "Aha!"  said  we,  "it  has  come  to 
that;  has  it  ?" 

Mr.  Tyler  chuckled,  and  vauntingly  exclaimed,  "  Yes,  you 
see  now  how  right  I  was ;  it  was  no  vain  boast  when  I  told 
you  I  was  in  my  prime  :  I  have  a  houseful  of  goodly  babies 
budding  around  me,  and  if  you  and  Marcy  will  only  get  off  and 
go  up  with  me  to  Sherwood,  I  will  show  you  how  bountifully 
and  rapidly  I  have  been  blessed.  They  are  all  so  near  in  age 
that  they  are  like  stair-steps,  and  the  two  youngest  are  so  much 
babies  alike  that  each  requires  the  nurse's  coach,  and  we  have 
to  have  one  with  two  seats !" 

Mr.  Marcy's  eyes  sparkled  through  the  brows,  and  he  looked 
for  explanation.  We  gave  it,  and  told  an  anecdote  to  account 
for  the  ex-President's  fruitful  paternity,  and  Mr.  Tyler  went  off 
in  the  highest  spirits,  shaking  his  finger  at  our  raillery,  and 
leaving  Marcy  shaking  the  jelly  of  his  humor. 


236  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

Once  afterwards,  during  the  term  of  Mr.  Polk,  we  had 
another  scene  with  Mr.  Marcy,  which  showed  his  curious  bent 
at  times.  An  old  friend,  Robert  G.  Scott,  of  Richmond,  a 
burly,  genial,  good-natured  man,  of  tender  heart  and  able  mind, 
and  a  powerful  criminal  lawyer  of  his  day,  with  a  brusque 
nmnner  and  the  voice  of  a  Stentor,  was  an  applicant  for  the 
consulship  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  whilst  Mr.  Marcy  was  Secretary 
of  State.  We  had  advocated  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Scott,  and 
got  the  promise  of  the  place  for  him  ;  but  the  nomination  was 
delayed  until  Mr.  Scott's  patience  was  exhausted.  He  had  a 
large  practice,  and  the  delay  embarrassed  him  with  the  doubt 
of  taking  new  cases.  He  went  on  to  Washington,  and  we, 
happening  to  be  there,  went  to  see  Mr.  Marcy  with  him  to  get 
some  definite  recognition  of  his  appointment.  Mr.  Marcy  gave 
us  audience,  and  Mr.  Scott  opened  the  object  of  his  visit,  and 
firmly  announced  that  he  was  tired  at  the  delay  and  embarrassed 
by  the  uncertainty.  Mr.  Marcy  sedately  heard  him  through, 
without  a  remark ;  but  we  saw  the  twinkle  in  his  eye  through 
the  brow-sieve,  and  when  the  reply  to  Mr.  Scott  came  it  was 
as  we  expected, — gruff,  dry,  hard,  and  sharp.  He  said, — 

"  Mr.  Scott,  for  every  bough  of  the  top  of  the  tree  of  appoint 
ments —  for  the  missions  plenipotentiary,  for  example  —  there 
are  about  one  hundred  applicants  ;  for  the  middle  boughs  of 
the  chargeships,  there  are  about  three  hundred  applicants ; 
and  for  the  lower  limbs  of  the  consulships,  there  are  about  one 
thousand  applicants.  Those  who  are  tired  of  holding  on  to  the 
upper  boughs  of  expectancy  hope  to  catch  upon  the  places  of 
the  chargeships,  if  they  fail  to  get  the  highest ;  and  those  dis 
appointed  in  obtaining  the  chargeships  hope  to  catch  on  the 
limbs  below  them.  This  will  enable  you  to  calculate  your 
chances  for  a  consulship.  For  the  plenipotentiary  place  but 
one  can  be  appointed,  and  the  ninety  and  nine  fall  upon  the 
chargeships,  and  thus  the  applicants  for  them  become  multiplied 
into  399 ;  and  for  the  chargeship  but  one  can  be  appointed,  and 
thus  398  have  to  fall  upon  the  consulships,  increasing  the 
number  of  applicants  for  them  by  398,  and  making  the  chance 
of  a  consulship  about  as  1398  to  1 1" 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  237 

There  he  paused  and  shot  his  glance  at  poor  Mr.  Scott,  who, 
after  the  first  moment,  raised  both  hands,  slapped  them  on  his 
knees,  and  exclaimed,  "  Good  God,  sir !  then  I  may  as  well  go 
home  to  my  clients,  and  quit  the  business  of  office-begging!" 
And  he  was  about  to  rise  and  bid  the  Secretary  adieu,  when 
Mr.  Marcy  raised  his  finger,  and  said,  "  But,  Mr.  Scott,  I  have 
advised  the  President,  and  I  hope  the  suggestion  will  be  fol 
lowed,  that  in  my  humble  opinion  the  failure  to  obtain  the 
higher  offices  shall  not  be  deemed  a  lien  on  the  lower :  thus 
your  chance  will  remain  as  one  to  a  thousand  only  for  a  con 
sulship  I" 

"  Well,  well,"  said  Scott,  "  that  chance  is  not  worth  waiting 
for,  and  I'll  go  home." 

"When  you  do,"  said  Mr.  Marcy,  "go  to  prepare  for  your 
passage  to  Rio,  for  your  appointment  is  already  determined 
upon."  And,  as  usual,  after  scanning  Scott's  joyful  surprise, 
he  again  shook  the  jelly  of  his  humor.  All  this  was  done 
gravely,  seriously,  without  a  smile,  and  completely  deceived 
Mr.  Scott,  who  was  appointed,  and  served  with  honor  in  the 
office  for  several  years  ;  and  his  worthy  son  succeeded  him  with 
like  credit. 

Mr.  Tyler  had  acquired  a  very  valuable  tract  of  land  in  Ken 
tucky  before  he  was  President,  which,  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
term,  he  sold  for  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  and  this  enabled 
him  to  purchase  "  Sherwood"  estate,  on  James  River ;  and 
a  summer  residence,  near  Hampton,  was  purchased  out  of 
means  of  Mrs.  Tyler,  and  he  was  thus  made  comfortable  for 
the  rest  of  his  life.  He  laid  up  nothing  from  his  public  life,  and 
but  for  this  sale  of  land  in  Kentucky  he  would  have  been  obliged 
to  return  to  the  practice  of  his  profession  after  his  presidential 
term  expired.  His  purity  was  above  all  suspicion  of  venality 
or  corruption,  and  his  poverty  was  proof  that  he  retired  from 
office  without  a  flaw  in  his  integrity,  whatever  was  said  of  his 
political  course. 

r  Almost  all  of  his  leading  friends  and  constituents  in  Charles 
City  had  been  decided  Whigs,  and  some  of  the  most  influential 
were  bitter  against  him ;  but  in  a  very  short  time  he  won  them 


238  SEVEN  DECADES    OF  THE    UNION. 

all  back  to  their  former  fondness  for  him.  As  if  to  mock  his 
retirement  from  the  Presidency,  and  to  express  contempt  for 
his  course,  he  was  appointed  overseer  of  one  of  the  worst  roads 
in  lowland  Virginia. 

Instead  of  resenting  the  indignity,  intended  to  belittle  him, 
he  was  tickled  with  the  appointment,  took  it  cheerfully,  ordered 
out  the  hands,  very  much  against  the  wishes  of  proprietors,  who 
had,  all  their  lives,  lazily  verified  Tom  Moore's  lampoon  upon 
old  Virginia  roads, — 

"  Ruts  and  ridges, 
And  bridges 
Made  of  planks, 
In  open  ranks, 
Like  old  women's  teeth !" — 

and  so  sturdily  set  to  rights  the  mortar  of  clay  and  the  jack- 
straws  of  corduroy  that  the  whole  country  around  rode  unjolted 
in  praise  of  his  industry  and  skill.  But  he  worked  the  roads  so 
well  and  so  often  that  he  turned  the  joke  upon  the  jokers,  and 
convinced  his  neighbors  that  he  was  fit  at  least  for  the  high 
way,  if  not  for  the  high  place  of  the  Presidency.  By  usefulness, 
kindness,  utter  abnegation  of  himself,  attention  to  every  want 
and  feeling  around  him,  and  cheerfulness,  he  won  all  hearts, 
and  made  a  social  circle  in  his  neighborhood  worthy  of  his 
retirement  and  tender  to  him  and  to  his  memory. 

From  1845  to  1855  his  life  was  perfectly  private,  confined  to 
his  home  and  his  county ;  but  he  kept  his  eye  on  the  prog 
nostics  of  coming  events,  and  was  most  solicitous  ever  about 
results  which  he  could  not  fail  to  foresee. 

Here  we  cannot  but  notice  what  is  said  of  President  Tyler 
by  Professor  George  F.  Holmes,  LL.D.,  in  a  school  "History 
of  the  United  States,"  University  Series.  He  says  of  him  : 

"  His  experience  of  public  life,  '  which  public  manner  breeds,' 
was  limited,  but  sufficient  when  he  found  himself  accidentally 
at  the  head  of  the  government,  and  of  a  party  from  which  he 
differed  on  the  cardinal  questions  of  the  Bank,  the  Tariff,  and 
State  Rights." 


THE  SIXTH  DECADE.  239 

We  do  not  know  what  Professor  Holmes  calls  "  experience," 
if  the  time  and  the  part  taken  up  by  Mr.  Tyler  in  "  public  life" 
did  not  make  him  experienced,  from  the  bar  to  the  House  of 
Delegates,  from  the  House  of  Delegates  to  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  from  Congress  back  to  the  General  Assembly,  from 
the  General  Assembly  to  the  Council-chamber,  from  the  Council- 
chamber  to  the  gubernatorial  chair  of  Virginia,  from  the  State 
Executive  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  from  the  seat 
there  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Senate,  from  the  Senate-chamber 
back  to  the  General  Assembly,  from  the  General  Assembly 
to  the  Vice-Presidential  chair  of  the  United  States,  and  from 
nineteen  years  of  age  to  the  day  of  his  death  !  But  Pro 
fessor  Holmes  speaks  of  some  sort  of  "experience"  which 
"  public  manner  breeds ;"  and  we  do  not  know  what  he  means 
by  this,  unless  to  say  that  Mr.  Tyler's  experience  in  "public 
life"  was  not  bred  by  "public  manner."  He  was  always  in 
"  public  life,"  and  in  the  highest  places  where  "  public  manner 
breeds,"  and  if  he  had  not  the  largest  experience,  much  less 
such  as  was  only  "  sufficient,"  it  must  have  been  because  he 
was  inapt  to  learn ;  yet  Professor  Holmes  says  he  was  a  man 
of  "  considerable  talents."  Yes,  of  "  considerable  talents,"  and 
a  tact  hardly  equaled  by  any  man  of  his  day,  and  a  judgment 
so  true  and  successful  that  John  Tyler's  luck  was  proverbial. 
Public  manner  added  full  fifty  years'  experience  to  his  tact,  and 
made  him  the  President  of  the  United  States  whose  adminis 
tration  compares  well  with  any  other,  from  that  of  Washington 
to  that  of  Grant.  This  slurring  notice  of  such  a  man  looks  like 
some  prejudice  of  the  partisan,  and  not  like  the  discriminating 
teaching  of  a  professor  of  history. 

Mr.  Tyler  had  during  his  term  appointed  Captain  Fremont 
to  explore  the  region  of  the  California  Territory,  and  he  claimed 
the  discovery  of  the  "  South  Pass."  He  had  also  sent  Captain 
Ap  Catesby  Jones  to  the  coast  of  the  Pacific  to  watch  events 
and  operations  there.  Mr.  Polk,  his  successor,  elected  as  a 
Democrat  and  as  an  annexationist,  was  met  at  once  by  the 
Mexican  war,  a  natural  consequence  of  the  annexation  of  Texas. 
General  Zachary  Taylor  was  commissioned  with  the  defense  of 


240  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

the  frontier  of  Texas,  Commodore  Conner  was  sent  to  the  har 
bor  of  Yera  Cruz  with  a  squadron,  and  Commodore  Sloat  had 
orders  to  seize  California  as  soon  as  hostilities  began.  Mexico 
declared  war  in  1846,  and  the  war  opened  the  ball  of  revolution 
in  America.  Its  tendency  and  effect  was  to  change  the  genius 
of  the  United  States.  The  war  was  prosecuted  with  enthusi 
asm  and  success,  and  resulted  in  the  acquisition  of  Texas,  New 
Mexico,  and  Upper  California.  This  vast  domain,  and  the  gold 
mines  of  the  Sacramento,  changed  the  whole  destiny  of  the 
United  States  by  the  signature  of  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe 
Hidalgo,  on  the  2d  of  February,  1848,  and  peace  was  pro 
claimed  on  the  4th  of  July,  1848.  But  the  golden  fruit  was 
guarded  by  the  dragon;  and  the  immense  immigration  to 
America,  and  the  enormous  addition  of  wealth  to  the  treasures 
of  the  world  by  the  California  mines,  revived  the  Missouri 
Compromise  contention.  A  Wilmot  proviso  was  introduced, 
and,  though  it  failed,  it  commenced  the  struggle  which  ended 
in  civil  war.  Two  more  free  States  were  admitted,  Iowa  and 
Wisconsin,  and  the  beam  of  the  balance  of  the  Union  was 
kicked  against  the  South. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  SEVENTH  DECADE,  FROM  185O  TO  18OO. 

Disparity  of  the  North  and  South  in  White  Population — General  Taylor  and 
the  Election  of  1848 — Mr.  Fillniore — "  Free  Soil"  Usurpation  in  California — 
Mr.  Clay's  Omnibus  Bill — Death  of  General  Taylor — Non-intervention — 
Election  of  Mr.  Pierce  in  1852— Kansas  and  Nebraska  Bills— "  Squatter 
Sovereignty" — The  Modern  Republican  Party — Convention  of  Seven  South 
ern  States  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  in  1850 — Secession  started — Judicial 
Blindness  of  the  South — "  Emigrant  Aid  Societies"  and  "  Blue  Lodges" — 
Border  War  enacted  by  Congress — John  Brown  of  Ossawattoinie— Know- 
Notbingism— Election  of  Mr.  Buchanan  in  1857— Dred  Scott  Case  :  its  Effect 
— Kansas  Troubles — Mr.  Buchanan's  Failure  to  keep  the  Peace — Raid  on 
Harper's  Ferry— Election  of  1860  :  the  Issue— The  Plan  and  Meaning  of 
Fighting  in  the  Union — Mr.  Tyler's  Part-Peace  Convention — Mr.  Tyler's 
Speech  at  Baltimore  in  1855 — Secession  Fears  of  Halters. 

WHEN  Mr.  Polk  left  the  Chief  Magistrate's  chair,  in  March, 
1849,  the  population  of  the  United  States  numbered  over 
twenty-three  millions,  the  South  having  about  four  millions 
only  of  whites. 

At  the  presidential  election  in  1848  the  Democratic  party 
was  broken  by  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Cass,  and  the  Mexican 
war  brought  upon  the  nation  the  chronic  curse  of  a  military 
leader  for  the  highest  civil  office 

General  Taylor,  the  hero  of  Buena  Vista,  was  elected ;  Mr. 
Fillniore  was  chosen  as  Yice-President.  The  President  elect 
was  a  great  "  rough  and  ready"  in  the  field,  but  ignorant  of 
law  and  politics,  and  unfitted  for  the  administration  of  civil 
affairs.  The  conquest  of  Mexico  and  territorial  acquisitions  em 
broiled  the  nation  in  a  strife  for  sectional  ascendency,  and  the 
crisis  demanded  extraordinary  experience,  judgment,  foresight, 
sagacity,  and  moral  courage.  Mr.  Fillniore  had  some  experience 

16  (241) 


242  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

in  Congress,  was  conscientious  and  laborious,  but  a  man  of 
mediocre  talents  and  timid,  and  for  "  Free  Soil."  Free  Soil 
became  the  watchword  and  reply  of  the  Northern  masses,  and 
coupled  with  the  maxim  of  a  "  majority  to  rule,"  began  to  grow 
into  huge  proportions,  threatening  not  only  slavery  but  all  con 
stitutional  guarantees  and  limitations.  A  large  portion  of  Cali 
fornia  lay  south  of  the  compromise  line,  and  yet  the  adminis 
tration  countenanced  the  military  usurpation,  by  General  Riley, 
of  dictating  a  "free  soil"  constitution,  and  that  State  was  ad 
mitted  into  the  Union  excluding  slavery.  Free  Soil  had  pre 
sented  its  first  candidate  to  sow  dragon's  teeth,  and  Mr.  Clay 
turned  pacificator  again,  to  the  detriment  of  the  South,  as  he 
had  done  before  in  1819.  By  his  "  Omnibus  Bill,"  hashed  up 
into  separate  measures,  in  lb'50,  the  military  usurpation  in 
California  was  sanctioned,  and  that  State  was  admitted  as  a 
free  State;  Utah  and  New  Mexico  were  made  Territories  with 
out  provision  as  to  slavery ;  Texas  was  given  ten  millions  of 
dollars,  and  might  be  made  into  four  States,  with  or  without 
slavery;  the  slave-trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  was  abol 
ished;  and  a  law  was  passed  to  n  cover  fugitive  slaves,  and 
that  law  was  nullified  everywhere  in  the  Free  Soil  States 
with  impunity  and  without  redress.  In  the  midst  o  this 
state  of  things  General  Taylor  died,  and  the  i  xecutive  office 
devolved  on  Mr.  Fillmore.  He  was  a  i  ederal  Whig;  tried  to 
carry  out  the  compromise  measures  of  Mr.  Clay,  but  they  had 
engrafted  in  them  a  gross  error  and  wrong,  the  doctrine  of 
Non-intervention,  as  it  was  called  by  the  friends  of  its  author, 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  it  was  impossible  for  any  President 
to  control  or  check  the  excesses  of  conflict  which  grew  out  of 
them  in  the  Territories. 

That  doctrine  or  feature  drew  the  competing  settlers  together, 
aspirants  against  each  other's  efforts  to  gain  the  dominion  of 
the  Territories,  and  disorder  and  danger  were  the  inevitable 
consequences. 

At  the  same  time  the  spirit  of  acquisition  of  more  domain 
raged ;  Cuba  was  invaded  by  Lopez,  and  Walker  attempted  to 
seize  Lower  California  and  Sonora  and  Nicaragua.  The  nation 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  243 

in  every  form  began  to  grow  fat  and  kick.  Its  materialism 
became  monstrous.  The  spirit  of  the  times  was  unbridled  and 
fierce,  and  excited  apprehensions  for  the  public  peace.  Those 
apprehensions  elected  Mr.  Pierce  in  the  succeeding  campaign, 
in  1852,  over  General  Scott,  of  the  Whigs,  and  Mr.  Hale,  of  the 
Free  Soil  party. 

The  Democratic  party  came  again  into  power,  and,  amidst 
every  difficulty  at  home  and  abroad,  for  a  time,  at  least,  pre 
served  the  public  peace.  It  settled  all  difficulties  with  Mexico, 
with  Austria,  with  Great  Britain,  and  with  Spain,  and  made 
the  Gadsden  treaty.  But  domestic  troubles  increased.  Mr. 
Douglas  consummated  the  causes  of  territorial  disorder  and 
of  national  discord  by  his  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bill,  declaring 
non-intervention  by  Congress  or  the  United  States,  leaving  the 
settlers  to  accept  or  reject  slavery,  and  abrogating  the  Missouri 
Compromise.  This  was  called  "  Squatter  Sovereignty,"  and 
it  had  its  Jack  Cades  without  number.  This  caused  the  fixed 
formation  of  what  is  called  the  Republican  party. 

The  first  threatening  movement  was  that  of  the  assembling  of 
delegates  from  seven  Southern  States,  at  Nashville,  in  the  year 
1850,  which  sat  from  June  to  November.  This  convention 
failed  to  do  anything  but  to  start  the  remedy  of  secession. 

In  1854  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  was  passed,  and  it  hastened 
the  conflict. 

The  government  was  made,  by  "the  principle  of  non-interven 
tion,  to  renounce  its  functions  of  protection  to  persons  and 
property  in  the  Territories ;  they  were  left  to  the  stronger 
hands  of  border  struggles  for  a  majority,  and  to  all  the  fraud 
and  force  of  unprincipled  and  unpatriotic  adventurers  on  both 
sides.  With  a  judicial  blindness  unparalleled  in  human  history, 
the  South  was  induced  by  Mr.  Douglas  to  back  this  bantling  of 
his,  worthy  only  of  a  demagogue,  who  concealed  his  real  desire 
for  Free  Soil  by  fathering  a  measure  seemingly  intended  to  defeat 
it.  The  South  was  first  duped  and  then  subdued  by  it ;  but  the 
Republicans,  led  by  men  of  the  sagacity  of  Thayer  and  other 
leaders  like  him,  took  "non-intervention"  at  its  word,  and  made 
it  work  out  the  destruction .  of  slavery  and  the  loss  of  erery 


244  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

Territory  to  the  South.  Both  sections  were  arrayed,  and  tried 
to  obtain  the  first  ground  of  occupation ;  the  question  was, 
"Which  squatter  shall  be  sovereign?"  —  and  the  first  battle 
ground  was  Kansas.  The  slave  State  of  Missouri,  contiguous 
with  that  Territory,  was  a  first  advantage  for  the  South  ;  but  the 
Free-Soilers  were  well  ordered  in  their  action,  operated  in  solid 
concert,  with  vastly  greater  wealth  and  the  largest  population  ; 
they  formed  immigrant  aid  societies,  and  rapidly  hastened  for 
ward  squatters  furnished  not  only  for  settlement  but  for  aggres 
sion  or  defense  by  arms.  The  "Blue  Lodges,"  on  the  other  side, 
were  zealous  in  the  use  of  opposing  means  to  the  designs  of  the 
immigrant  aid  societies,  and  thus  a  border  war  was  actually 
enacted  by  Congress  to  carry  on  a  free  sectional  fight,  and  it 
raged  for  the  time  with  all  the  rancor  and  venom  which  ought 
to  have  been  foreseen  by  men  of  wisdom,  or  divined  by  men 
of  good  moral  instincts.  Fraud,  force,  ruffianism,  cruelty,  arsons, 
murders,  corruption  of  elections,  reigned  unbridled,  broke  up 
settlements  and  plundered  or  destroyed  villages,  and  unregu 
lated  warfare  skirmished  and  marauded,  seized  and  captured,  ad 
libitum,  whilst  "non-intervention"  caused  the  strong  sovereignty 
of  the  United  States  to  stand  by  and  look  on  without  raising  an 
arm  to  protect  the  weak  or  shield  the  right. 

This  ravishment  of  the  frontier  spawned  that  fanatic,  as 
much  sinned  against  as  sinning,  John  Brown  of  Ossawattomie, 
who  was  the  special  protege  of  Gen-it  Smith,  and  the  forerunner 
of  civil  war. 

Whilst  Governor  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  we  foresaw  what 
would  be  the  result  of  these  orgies  of  misrule,  and  tried  to  avert 
it.  One  legislature  in  Kansas,  in  July,  1855,  passed  very  strong 
laws  for  the  maintenance  of  slavery,  and  the  Free-Soilers,  in 
October  of  the  same  year,  at  Topeka,  formed  a  Constitution 
excluding  slavery. 

The  administration  of  General  Pierce  used  military  force,  and 
this  roused  the  non-interventionists  to  excessive  resistance, 
until  the  Topeka  legislature  was  dispersed  by  military  force, 
in  1857.  And  out  of  these  border  troubles  the  tickets  for  the  next 
ensuing  presidential  election,  in  1856,  were  formed:  the  Demo- 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  245 

crats  ran  as  their  candidates  Buchanan  and  Breckinridge,  the 
Whigs  and  "Know-Nothings,"  combined,  ran  Mr.  Fillmore  as 
their  candidate,  and  the  Free-Soilers,  John  C.  Fremont. 

In  1854-55,  this  new  organization  of  Know-nothings  had 
overrun  the  Northern  States,  and  was  arrested  only  in  Virginia. 
It  was  the  most  impious  and  unprincipled  affiliation  by  bad 
means,  for  bad  ends,  which  ever  seized  upon  large  masses  of 
men  of  every  opinion  and  party,  and  swayed  them  for  a  brief 
period  blindly,  as  if  by  a  Yehmgerichte!  At  the  foundation 
of  it  were  the  plans  of  Exeter  Hall,  in  Old  England,  acting 
on  Williams  Hall,  in  New  England,  for  a  hierarchical  proscrip 
tion  of  religions,  for  the  demolition  of  some  of  the  clearest 
standards  of  American  liberty,  and  for  a  fanatical  and  sectional 
demolition  of  slavery.  Federalism,  in  the  form  of  Whiggery, 
seized  upon  it  unscrupulously,  as  an  instrument  with  which 
to  bruise  the  head  of  Democracy ;  but  in  all  its  forms  it  was 
hideous  and  revolting,  and  had  only  to  be  exposed  to  shock 
the  moral  sense  of  every  sound  patriot.  The  task  of  exposing 
it  fell  to  our  lot,  and  we  spent  a  year  in  its  destruction.  But 
the  snake  was  "scotched,  not  killed."  Our  effort  was  to  revive 
the  popular  and  Democratic  party,  and  it  was  successful  for  the 
time  in  electing  James  Buchanan  President  of  the  United  States, 
in  185*7,  and  in  postponing  civil  war  for  four  years. 

Mr.  Buchanan  came  into  office  in  1857,  with  great  difficulties 
of  administration  to  be  encountered ;  but  still,  if  they  had  been 
met  with  nerve,  and  stern  reliance  upon  the  love  of  peace, 
order,  and  right,  they  would  have  been  subdued.  It  was  not 
too  late  to  save  the  Union  as  formed  by  the  Constitution,  and 
the  country  from  the  blood-guiltiness  of  civil  war,  which  broke 
down  all  the  barriers  against  unlimited  power,  and  all  the 
guarantees  of  civil  liberty.  He  ought  to  hare  seen  that  slavery 
was  no  longer  the  question ;  the  real  question  was,  "  Shall  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  survive,  or  shall  non-inter 
vention  leave  it  exposed  to  the  wrong  and  violence  of  the  brute 
force  of  a  majority  on  the  border  ?" 

He  ought  to  have  seen  that  this  applied  not  only  to  the  Ter 
ritories,  but  also  to  the  States ;  not  only  to  the  slavery  of  the 


246  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

colored  race,  but  also  to  the  constitutional  freedom  of  the  white 
race  ;  that  it  was  not  a  sectional  question  as  to  which  side  of 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line  should  prevail  in  the  new  settlements, 
but  whether  the  States  themselves  should  continue  to  exist 
as  united  under  the  Constitution,  or  whether  the  war-power, 
necessarily  forced  into  action  by  non-intervention,  should  be 
allowed  to  supersede  the  civil  laws  and  institutions,  Federal 
and  State,  of  the  Union.  In  a  word,  he  should  have  intervened 
to  "keep  the  peace."  But  he  was  hesitating  and  timid,  and  an 
event  which  occurred  upon  the  very  first  day  after  his  inaugura 
tion  alarmed  him  out  of  his  propriety.  The  Supreme  Court,  of 
the  United  States,  on  the  6th  of  March,  1857,  decided  the  "Dred 
Scott  case,"  that  a  negro  was  not  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
and  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  unconstitutional.  This 
added  fuel  to  the  flames  of  excitement,  and  opened  all  the  ter 
ritory  south  of  36°  30'  to  the  immigrant  aid  societies  to  increase 
the  Free-Soil  States,  and  this  especially  caused  Mr.  Buchanan 
to  be  too  cautious  and  temporizing  in  his  policy.  The  Kansas 
troubles  descended  to  his  administration,  and  he  was  not  coura 
geous  enough  to  meet  them  manfully.  The  Topeka  Constitution 
was  rejected  by  Congress  and  the  administration ;  in  fact,  Mr. 
Buchanan  himself  gave  countenance  to  the  iniquities  of  the  pro- 
slavery  Constitution  of  Lecompton,  in  November,  1857.  That 
Constitution  was  a  fraud,  gross,  palpable,  and  tyrannical,  and 
the  Southern  settlers  were  as  guilty  in  this  attempt  at  usurpa 
tion  as  the  Free-Soilers  were  in  the  Topeka  attempt.  Having 
been  active  and  efficient  in  the  nomination  and  election  of  Mr. 
Buchanan,  we  urged  upon  him  most  earnestly  the  justice  and 
policy  of  setting  that  Lecompton  outrage  aside,  and  of  protect 
ing  the  purity  and  freedom  of  the  territorial  elections ;  but  in 
vain.  He  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  interpose  for  the  right, 
and  allowed  the  struggle  to  go  on,  until  the  people  of  Kansas, 
after  rejecting  the  Lecompton  fraud,  finally  adopted  their  Con 
stitution  of  Wyandott,  in  July,  1859,  and  were  admitted  into 
the  Union,  January,  1861.  It  was  about  this  period  of  the 
highest  inflammation  of  the  cancer  of  Kansas  that  the  raid  of 
John  Brown  upon  Harper's  Ferry  took  place,  in  1859.  He  had 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  247 

been  outraged  in  Kansas,  his  home  had  twice  been  invaded, 
one  of  his  sons  had  been  driven  to  madness  by  cruelty,  and  his 
youngest  son  had  been  butchered ;  and  he  became  frenzied  to 
the  extreme  recklessness  of  the  raid,  which  capped  the  climax 
of  aggression,  and  let  slip  the  dogs  of  war  for  the  time,  and 
blew  a  bugle-blast  from  a  gallows  platform  of  convicts,  which 
resounded  from  one  end  of  the  continent  to  the  other,  and 
roused  every  evil  passion  for  the  conflict  at  the  next  presidential 
election.  It  is  due  to  ourself  to  say  here  that  we  did  our  full 
duty  in  that  trouble.  We  had  prepared  beforehand  for  the 
worst,  and  hesitated  not  a  moment  to  call  out  the  militia  to 
enforce  the  laws  and  to  preserve  the  peace.  A  portion  of  the 
militia  had  anticipated  our  action,  and  kept  the  marauders 
hemmed  in  until  the  regular  forces  captured  them.  The  Presi 
dent,  fearing  that  our  action  would  be  too  decisive  if  allowed  to 
reach  the  scene  in  time,  hastened  Colonel  Lee  (Robert  E.)  for 
ward  with  a  squad  of  marines,  and  he  gallantly  captured  Brown, 
and  a  worse  man,  Mitchell,  killing  twelve,  including  one  of 
Brown's  sons,  with  the  loss  of  one  marine.  We  should  have 
reached  Harper's  Ferry  from  Richmond  with  several  volunteer 
companies  before  him,  but  were  stopped  purposely,  it  was 
thought,  at  Washington  City,  in  order  to  give  Lee  time  to  do 
the  service  by  the  United  States  troops,  without  the  interpo 
sition  of  the  State  authorities.  This  was  Mr.  Buchanan's  only 
act  of  intervention,  and  it  was  a  false  step,  vain  and  too  late. 
We  had  urged  him  to  interpose  in  time  to  prevent  the  extension 
of  the  trouble  beyond  the  Territories ;  we  had  spent  months 
of  labor  in  endeavoring  to  expose  the  destructiveness  of  the 
Douglas  doctrine  to  the  South,  in  a  treatise  upon  State  and 
Federal  Relations,  addressed  to  a  friend  in  Alabama,  and  pub 
lished  it  at  considerable  expense  in  Richmond;  the  lamented 
O.  Jennings  Wise  had,  by  his  pen,  in  the  Richmond  Enquirer 
and  by  pamphlet  publications,  endeavored  to  convince  the  South 
of  the  Lecompton  fraud  and  non-intervention  error,  and  of  the 
apprehended  consequences  of  both;  and  every  effort  was  made 
to  prompt  Mr.  Buchanan  to  perform  his  duty  of  protection  to 
the  whole  nation.  But  he  failed  to  do  aught  but  capture  John 


248  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

Brown,  and  that  only  applied  the  fuse  to  the  bomb-shell  of  civil 
war.  He  and  Mr.  Douglas  split  the  Democratic  party ;  the 
Whigs  were  demoralized  by  the  Know-Nothings,  and  the  Re 
publican  party  was  aggrandized  in  numbers  from  all  factions 
in  the  North  ;  it  had  already  the  pulpit  and  press  and  public 
schools  and  the  chief  wealth  of  parties  in  the  North ;  and  it  is 
rather  a  wonder  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  elected  by  a 
larger  vote  than  that  of  180  out  of  303  electoral  votes  in  the 
contest  of  1860.  , 

Three  Free-Soil  States  had  been  added — Kansas,  Oregon, 
and  Minnesota — during  the  administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan  ; 
the  population  of  the  United  States  had  increased  to  thirty-one 
and  a  half  millions,  and  the  white  population  of  the  States 
which  seceded  was  about  five  millions  only.  A  majority  of 
fifty-seven  electoral  votes  was  small  in  proportion  to  this  state 
of  things,  and  the  presidential  canvass  convulsed  the  whole 
nation.  The  election  itself  was  not  the  cause  of  the  convulsion 
or  of  the  revolution.  The  causes  had  accumulated  from  1819. 
The  Southern  States  felt  compelled  to  secede  from  a  sense  of 
safety.  Slave  property  was  not  all  that  was  involved;  it  was, 
indeed,  as  nothing  when  compared  with  what  was  involved  in 
the  issue  of  that  election.  The  whole  theory  of  the  govern 
ment  was  involved  in  that  fatal  word  construction,  which  the 
South  foresaw  would  gain  a  prefix  which  would  make  it  "recon 
struction"  The  Constitution  had  already  constructed  a  govern 
ment,  which  government  had  construed  it  into  "  construction 
construed,"  and  every  man  of  sagacity  saw  that  this  was  what 
we  now  endure  —  "  reconstruction."  Physics  prevailed  over 
metaphysics.  The  progress  of  the  country  had  been  so  rapid 
and  immense  as  to  change  the  entire  character  of  our  population. 
Moral  philosophy  and  constitutional  law  had  fallen  before  steam 
and  telegraphs  and  railroads  and  territorial  acquisitions  and 
unprecedented  immigration.  Free  Soil  was  a  majority,  and  a 
majority  brooked  no  limitations  to  its  will.  Nothing  would  be 
any  safer  than  slavery  would  be.  Slavery  of  the  colored  race 
would  be  destroyed,  and  the  freedom  of  the  white  race  would 
lose  all  its  guarantees  against  the  abuses  of  a  majority. 


THE  SEVENTH   DECADE.  249 

Such  was  the  course  of  events  which  rushed  us  into  civil 
war.  The  South  itself  was  not  united  upon  secession.  A 
large  portion  of  our  people  desired  total  separation  ;  but  a  num 
ber  of  respectable  and  experienced  thinkers  deprecated  secession, 
saw  no  necessity  for  it,  but  instead  much  weakness  in  it,  and 
counseled  to  "  fight  in  the  Union."  And  this  brings  us  to  scan 
the  part  which  Mr.  Tyler,  then  in  his  retirement,  took  in  the 
contest. 

We  looked  to  his  opinions  with  great  hopefulness,  knowing  his 
remarkable  tact  and  talent  for  a  suggestive  policy.  His  counsel 
was  that  of  forbearance  and  peace.  He  was  a  sincere  lover  of 
the  Union,  but  devoted  to  the  States  and  their  rights.  He  relied 
with  great  faith  on  the  wisdom  and  strength  of  the  constitu 
tional  provisions  for  the  common  protection,  and  trusted  in  the 
patriotic  motives  and  common  sense  of  the  popular  mind  for 
our  escape  from  impending  dangers.  He  urged  a  "  Peace  Con 
vention,"  and,  we  believe,  was  mainly  instrumental  in  getting 
up  that  which  afterwards  met  at  Washington.  He  was  active 
in  urging  the  legislature  and  Governor  of  Virginia  to  call  upon 
the  States  to  assemble  in  order  to  avert  the  present  dangers, 
and  to  amend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  so  as  to 
prevent  like  crises  in  the  future. 

Virginia  made  the  appeal  for  peace  in  vain.  Her  call  was 
not  met  by  all  the  States,  and  its  failure  emboldened  the  North 
ern  majority  to  insist  upon  their  extreme  measures.  The  fact 
was,  the  time  was  already  lost  for  preventing  war.  The  exodus 
had  come.  There  was  no  compromising  the  question  of  slavery, 
and  its  violent  abolition  would  necessarily  destroy  all  the  con 
stitutional  moorings  of  the  country.  Thousands  in  the  slave- 
holding  States  would  never  have  risked  one  drop  of  blood  for 
the  inglorious  privilege  of  being  masters  of  slaves ;  but  they 
dreaded  the  thought  of  being  dwarfed  in  the  Union,  and  being 
made  slaves  themselves  by  a  host  of  new-comers  to  the  conti 
nent,  who  were  not  imbued  by  the  spirit  of  our  fathers,  or  the 
spirit  and  understanding  of  our  institutions.  The  fate  of  the 
slavery  of  the  colored  race  was  sealed,  and  it  could  not  secure 
any  guarantees  for  the  future ;  and  if  the  Constitution  could  be 


250  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE    UNION. 

set  aside  and  violated  in  respect  to  the  right  of  slave  property, 
it  could  be  as  to  any  right  or  possession  whatever.  The  Federal 
Congress  and  Executive  and  Judiciary  were  combined  against 
slavery,  and  of  course  would  unite  on  all  the  means  to  abolish 
it,  however  much  they  invaded  the  sovereignty  and  equality 
of  the  States  in  the  minority  of  the  Union.  And  the  Free-Soil 
States  themselves  had  already  defiantly  broken  the  faith  of  the 
Federal  compact.  We  were  willing  that  Mr.  Tyler  and  others 
should  make  the  overture  and  attempt  at  peace,  bjit  from  the 
moment  of  the  Lecompton  fraud,  and  the  Kansas  wars,  and  the 
John  Brown  raid,  we  began  to  prepare  for  the  worst.  We 
looked  carefully  to  the  State  Armory ;  and  whilst  we  had  the 
selection  of  the  State  quota  of  arms,  we  were  particular  to  take 
field  ordnance  instead  of  altered  muskets  ;  and  when  we  left  the 
gubernatorial  chair  there  were  in  the  State  Armory,  at  Rich 
mond,  85,000  stand  of  infantry  arms  and  130  field-pieces  of  artil 
lery,  besides  $30,000  worth  of  new  revolving  arms,  purchased 
from  Colt. 

Our  decided  opinion  was,  that  a  preparation  of  the  Southern 
States  in  full  panoply  of  arms,  and  prompt  action,  would  have 
prevented  civil  war.  The  story  is  told,  and  still  believed  by 
some,  that  Mr.  Floyd,  whilst  Secretary  of  War  under  Mr. 
Buchanan,  distributed  a  large  supply  of  arms  to  the  Southern 
States.  The  story  is  a  doubtful  one  ;  but,  if  true,  it  is  certain 
that  none  of  the  arms  were  supplied  to  Virginia  ;  and  the  mis 
fortune  of  this  State  was,  that  her  whole  militia  system  had 
been  destroyed  by  an  unprecedented  dereliction  of  duty  and  by 
the  folly  of  her  legislature.  A  prompt,  bold,  defiant,  armed 
attitude  would  have  prevented  war,  we  repeat;  but  the  peace 
policy  prevailed  in  Virginia  ;  whilst  the  Cotton  States  were  bent 
on  what  they  insanely  imagined  would  be  peaceful  secession, — 
mistaking  Cotton  for  King,  or  for  even  money  or  credit! 

In  a  lecture  delivered  before  the  Maryland  Institute  for  the 
Promotion  of  the  Mechanic  Arts,  on  the  20th  March,  1855,  at 
Baltimore,  Mr.  Tyler,  in  speaking  of  the  pacification  by  which 
the  Force  Bill  of  General  Jackson's  administration  had  been 
rendered  harmless,  said,  "  At  another  day  that  same  flag  [the 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  251 

Palmetto,  of  South  Carolina],  as  it  waved  in  full  glory  over 
the  plains  of  Mexico,  caught  the  gaze  of  an  admiring  world, 
and  impressed,  as  I  trust,  upon  the  heart  and  mind  of  America 
the  principle  that,  in  differences  of  opinion  that  may  and  will 
spring  up  between  the  States,  the  last  counselor  should  be  the 
pride  of  power,  and  the  last  mediator  should  be  force."  And 
he  concluded  that  lecture  by  saying,  "  Rome,  in  her  day  of 
power,  claimed  to  be  the  mistress  of  the  world,  and  Alex 
ander  wept  that  he  had  no  more  worlds  to  conquer ;  and  yet 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other  looked  down  from  their  height  of 
power  upon  possessions  more  extensive  or  more  fertile  than 
those  which  we  enjoy.  I  mention  these  things  not  in  a  spirit 
of  vain  boasting,  but  for  a  far  different  and  more  interesting 
purpose  :  it  is  to  induce  a  still  deeper  impression  of  love  and 
veneration  for  our  political  institutions,  by  exhibiting  our  coun 
try  as  it  was,  and  is, — and  will  be,  if  we  are  true  to  the  great 
trust  committed  to  our  hands.  I  listen  to  no  raven-like  croak- 
ings  foretelling  '  disastrous  twilight'  to  this  confederacy.  I 
will  give  no  audience  to  those  dark  prophets  who  profess  to 
foretell  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  I  would  bid  them  back  to 
their  gloomy  cells,  to  await  until  the  day  shall  come,  which,  I 
trust,  will  assuredly  come,  when  this  great  republic  shall  have 
reached  the  fullness  of  its  glory.  I  will  not  adopt  the  belief 
that  a  people  so  favored  by  Heaven  will  most  wickedly  and 
foolishly  throw  away  '  a  pearl  richer  than  all  their  tribe.'  No  ! 
when  I  open  the  book  of  the  Sibyls,  there  is  unfolded  to  my 
sight,  in  characters  bright  and  resplendent  and  glorious  and 
vivifying,  the  American  confederacy  in  the  distant  future, 
shining  with  increased  splendor, — the  paragon  of  governments, 
the  exemplar  of  the  world.  If  I  misinterpret  the  prophecies, 
let  me  live  and  die  in  my  error.  Let  it  rather  be  thus  than 
awaken  me  to  an  opposite  reality,  full  of  the  horrid  specters  of 
strong  governments,  sustained  by  bristling  fortifications,  large 
standing  armies,  heavy  burdens  on  the  shoulders  of  industry, 
the  sword  never  at  rest  in  its  scabbard,  and  the  ear  deafened 
ever  by  the  roar  of  cannon.  No  !  leave  me  for  the  remnant  of 
my  days  the  belief  that  the  government  and  institutions  handed 


252  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

down  to  us  by  our  fathers  are  to  be  the  rich  legacy  of  our  chil 
dren  and  our  children's  children  to  the  latest  generation.  If 
this  be  a  delusion,  let  me  still  embrace  it  as  a  reality.  Keep  at 
a  distance  from  me  that  gaunt  and  horrible  form  which  is  en 
gendered  in  folly  and  nurtured  in  faction,  and  which  slakes  its 
thirst  in  the  tears  of  the  broken  hearts  and  appeases  its  appe 
tite  on  the  blasted  hopes  of  mankind." 

Alas!  he  did  misinterpret  the  prophecies;  the  gods  loved 
him  too  well  not  to  grant  his  prayer,  and  did  not  let  him  live 
to  see  "the  specters  of  strong  governments."  He  was  taken 
away  from  the  touch  of  subjugation, — he  never  tasted  the  bitter 
ness  of  its  ashes.  His  heart  was  not  broken  ;  he  died  in  hope, 
and  was  never  forced  to  see  the  "  gaunt  and  horrible  form"  of 
that  despotism  of  Congress  which  has  destroyed  the  Constitu 
tion,  States,  laws,  and  liberties  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  too  much  for  forbearance,  peace,  and  com 
promise  ;  and  that  state  of  mind  of  most  leading  men  in  Vir 
ginia  caused  us  to  be  found  unprepared  for  inevitable  war.  Yet 
these  same  men,  when  forced  to  resort  to  an  ultimate  mode  of 
preventing  coming  calamities  and  redressing  past  or  preventing 
future  wrongs,  were  those  who  betook  themselves  to  secession 
rather  than  to  the  wiser  remedy  of  "fighting  in  the  Union." 
They  did  not  and  could  not  foresee  in  time  that  they  "  must 
fight,"  and  blindly  persisted  in  believing  that  "  secession  might 
and  would  be  peaceful."  It  was  a  delusion  causing  war,  and 
war  unprepared  for.  If  they  had  seen  that  the  war  was  inevi 
table,  they  would  have  prepared  for  it;  and  if  at  the  very  be 
ginning  they  had  been  prepared  for  it,  and  had  first  "  drawn  the 
sword  instead  of  blowing  the  horn,"  there  would  have  been  no 
war.  That  was  the  first  advantage  in  the  idea  of  "  fighting  in 
the  Union."  The  prompt,  prepared  attitude  of  war  would 
have  brought  about  a  peaceable  adjustment,  which  would  have 
sheathed  the  drawn  sword  in  the  interest  of  the  Union,  without 
a  drop  of  blood.  This  was  the  only  hope  of  peace,  and  this 
would  have  made  peace,  unless  war,  in  the  eye  of  Omniscience, 
was  the  only  means  of  abolishing  the  slavery  of  the  colored 
race  in  the  country.  And  if  it  was  the  only  providential  means 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  253 

of  God  to  compel  the  exodus  of  the  negro  race  from  bondage, 
yet,  if  we  had  been  ready  and  prepared  for  it,  we  might  have 
enforced  terms  which,  while  they  yielded  the  emancipation  of 
bondmen,  might  have  saved  freemen  of  the  white  race  from 
chains,  and  might  have  preserved  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  the  liberties  of  all 
the  people. 

But  with  them,  Mr.  Tyler  among  the  rest,  unfortunately, 
to  "  fight  in  the  Union"  was  to  fight  with  halters  around  their 
necks, — was  treason.  This  was  the  great  error  of  the  Southern 
leaders.  It  did  not  proceed  from  cowardly  or  selfish  motives. 
They  thought  themselves  morally  bound  to  assume  the  attitude 
which  would  most  effectually  preserve  their  constituents  from 
the  personal  consequences  of  penalties,  forfeitures,  seizures,  and 
confiscations.  Their  error  was  in  supposing  that  to  fight  in  the 
Union  would  be  rebellious,  and  that  to  secede  would  make  the 
war  intergential.  In  the  first  case,  they  conceived,  we  would 
be  rebels, — hostes  ;  in  the  last  we  would  be  enemies, — inimici 
non  hostes.  This,  we  repeat,  was  a  great  error,  both  of  judg 
ment  and  of  law. 

In  point  of  judgment,  their  declaring  themselves  absolved 
from  the  obligations  of  the  Union  would  not  make  them  so. 
Success  alone  in  arms  could  do  that;  and  if  their  enemies  suc 
ceeded  in  arms,  the  conquerors  would  not  fail  to  treat  them 
either  as  enemies  or  as  rebels,  or  as  both,  as  they  might  elect. 
But  they  thought  themselves  safer  from  the  halters  of  treason 
by  seceding,  in  case  their  enemies  should  succeed.  It  was  in 
vain  urged  that  there  was  a  greater  danger  threatening  them 
than  that  of  halters, — the  danger  of  the  application  of  the  abso 
lute  rules  of  the  jus  belli, — of  confiscation  of  the  property  of 
persons,  and  of  the  annihilation  of  States,  and  the  other  opera 
tions  inter  gentes  "  m  concitate  belli;"  that  the  jus  belli  was  an 
absolute  rule  under  the  laws  of  nations,  and  knew  no  limitations; 
whilst  the  rule  of  Confederate  or  United  States  in  conflict,  with 
out  a  separation  or  secession,  would  be  governed  by  the  law  of 
internal  sovereignty,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  with 
all  its  guarantees,  limitations,  prohibitions,  and  restrictions. 


254  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

Blockade  and  non-intercourse,  for  example,  would  be  a  very 
different  thing  under  the  law  of  external  sovereignty,  the  law  of 
nations,  from  what  it  would  be  under  the  law  of  internal  sover 
eignty,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  and  we  could 
claim  all  the  benefits  of  existing  organization  in  the  post-office, 
in  the  custom-house,  in  treaties  with  foreign  powers,  and  in 
the  eminent  domain.  This  was  urged  in  vain,  and  could  not 
be  understood.  The  halter  of  treason  hung  before  their  eyes 
and  turned  them  away  from  their  true  policy. 

In  point  of  law  we  urged  the  true  views  of  our  composi 
tive  system  of  government,  a  constitutional  Union  of  separate 
and  independent  States,  before  and  since  the  war,  in  vain. 
The  courts  of  Virginia  and  the  United  States,  since  the  sur 
render,  have  been  as  wild  in  their  decisions  respecting  our 
political  law  as  were  the  Confederate  leaders  before  the  war 
began.  They  have  made  the  late  conflict  of  the  States  of  the 
Union  a  perfect  nondescript  revolution, — internal,  external,  in- 
tergential,  civil ;  having  fixed  rules  and  exceptional ;  absolute 
and  relative  ;  international  and  intra-territorial ;  under  munici 
pal  and  prize ;  under  the  constitutional  law  and  under  the  inter 
national  law ;  mixed,  confused,  arbitrary,  and  whatever  dicta 
tion  on  the  one  side  and  servile  fear  on  the  other  may  prescribe 
or  accept. 

We  often  conferred  with  Mr.  Tyler,  especially  upon  what  that 
law  was.  He  always  admitted  the  truth  of  our  views,  yet,  like 
others,  would  not  agree  to  their  adoption  and  application. 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

THE  SEVENTH  DECADE,  FROM  18SO  TO  I860. 

The  Essential  Rights  of  States— The  Original  Condition  of  the  several  United 
States— What  Change  did  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  make  in 
their  Sovereign  Condition  ? — The  War-Power  of  the  United  States — War- 
Power  and  the  Power  to  Repel  Invasion  in  Constitutional  Contrast  with  the 
Powers  to  execute  the  Laws  and  to  suppress  Insurrection — The  Prohibitions 
to  the  States — The  Error  of  Secession — Instances  of  Insurrection  and  Rebel 
lion — A  State  defined — The  Primary  and  Secondary  Elements  of  a  State— 
The  Conflict  of  States  never  an  Insurrection :  of  these  States,  it  is  Internal 
or  Civic  War,  governed  by  the  Law  of  Internal  Sovereignty — The  States  in 
vaded,  and  their  Duties  in  the  Case — Inimici  non  Hostea — Dorr's  Rebellion. 

OP  all  the  absolute  and  conditional  rights  of  States,  the  most 
essential  and  important,  and  the  first,  is  the  right  of  self-pres 
ervation.  This  is  not  only  a  right  with  respect  to  other  States, 
but  a  duty  with  respect  to  its  own  members.  It  necessarily  in 
volves  all  other  incidental  rights  which  are  essential  as  means 
to  give  effect  to  the  principal  end.  Among  these  is  the  right  to 
require  the  military  services  of  all  its  people ;  to  levy  troops ; 
to  maintain  a  naval  force ;  to  build  fortifications,  and  to  enforce 
and  collect  taxes  for  all  these  purposes  of  self-defense.  And  the 
exercise  of  these  absolute  sovereign  rights  can  be  controlled 
only  by  the  equal,  correspondent  rights  of  other  States,  or  by 
special  compacts,  freely  entered  into  with  others,  to  modify  the 
exercise  of  these  rights.  Such  is  the  received  law,  as  laid  down 
by  the  best  modern  authority,  the  "American  Elements,"  I  may 
say,  of  Wheaton. 

To  these  preliminary  principles  the  fact  must  be  added  that, 
prior  to  the  formation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
such  were  the  rights  of  each  and  every  State  of  this  Union, 
among  other  independent,  sovereign  States  of  Christendom.  Yir- 

(255) 


256  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

ginia,  for  example,  undoubtedly  had  the  right  of  self-preserva 
tion  and  of  self-defense,  with  all  the  incidental  means;  and  it  Is 
also  equally  true  that  she  as  a  State  prompted  and  promoted 
the  formation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  expressly 
to  create  "  a  more  perfect  Union,"  for  the  very  purpose  of  en 
abling  her  more  effectually  to  protect  and  defend  herself,  and  to 
protect  and  defend  each  and  all  of  the  States,  and  to  preserve 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  all. 

Then  the  question  arose,  How  far  did  the  formation  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  modify  or  restrain  this  abso 
lute  sovereign  right  of  self-defense  and  self-preservation  in  the 
several  States  of  the  Union  ? 

The  Constitution  gave  charge  of  the  "  common  defense"  to 
Congress. 

To  Congress  was  granted  the  power  to  declare  war,  grant 
letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and  make  rules  concerning  cap 
tures  on  land  and  on  water ;  to  raise  and  support  armies,  and  to 
provide  and  maintain  a  navy ;  to  make  rules  for  the  government 
and  regulation  of  the  land  and  naval  forces,  and  to  provide  for 
the  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the  Union, 
suppress  insurrection,  and  repel  invasion,  and  for  organizing, 
arming,  and  disciplining  the  militia,  and  governing  such  part  of 
them  as  may  be  employed  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  ; 
but  the  States  were  to  appoint  the  officers,  and  to  train  them 
according  to  discipline  prescribed  by  Congress. 

Now,  it  is  palpable  that  such  of  these  provisions  as  relate 
to  war  and  its  means  and  incidents,  and  to  "repelling  inva 
sion,"  apply  only  to  "  foreign  war,"  or  war  inter  gentes.  And 
it  is  equally  plain  that  whatever  force  of  armies  or  navies,  or 
"  captures  on  land  and  on  water,"  or  "calling  forth  the  militia" 
against  our  own  citizens  it  authorizes,  are  not  for  the  purposes 
or  ends  or  uses  of  war,  but  were  authorized  for  two  purposes 
alone,  and  those  domestic  and  internal  only, — first,  to  "  execute 
the  laws  ;"  second,  "to  suppress  insurrection." 

War,  to  make  it  valid,  must  be  declared.  No  war  could  be 
declared  against  the  States  of  the  Union  or  against  their  citi 
zens  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  25 1 

It  was  folly  to  imagine  that  Congress  would  be  so  unwise 
and  artless  as  to  declare  war  against  secession.  It  would  have 
been  at  once  to  acknowledge  the  fact  of  a  separation  and  the 
right  to  secede.  It  was  obvious  that  Congress  would  proclaim 
an  insurrection  to  be  suppressed,  and  would  call  forth  forces  to 
execute  the  laws;  that  it  would  declare  no  war;  and  that  it 
would  in  any  event,  with  or  without  secession,  operate  on 
individual  citizens  in  personam,  and  hold  them  accountable  for 
treason  and  amenable  to  its  penalties.  There  could  be  nothing 
gained  to  the  citizens,  then,  by  secession,  and  the  whole  prestige 
of  the  Union  would  be  lost  to  the  popularity  and  probable  suc 
cess  of  the  Confederacy.  The  Constitution  and  Union  were 
the  best  and  only  guardians  of  the  people  against  the  dangers 
and  trials  and  halters  for  treason. 

By  the  Constitution,  Congress  had  no  power  to  declare  war 
against  any  State  or  States  of  the  Union,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
was  rather  restrained  from  so  doing.  The  militia,  or  military 
or  naval  forces,  could  be  called  forth  for  no  domestic  or  home 
purpose  except  either  "to  execute  the  laws"  or  "to  suppress 
insurrection ;"  and  there  were  restraints  upon  that  power  even, 
since  the  States  alone  could  appoint  militia  officers  and  train  the 
militia,  foreign  war  and  the  repulsion  of  invasion  stand  in 
the  Constitution  in  pointed  contrast  with  "the  execution  of  the 
laws"  and  "  the  suppression  of  insurrection."  War  and  inva 
sion  apply  to  the  territory  and  rights  of  the  nation  as  against 
foreign  powers  only.  The  execution  of  the  laws  and  the  sup 
pression  of  insurrection  apply  to  the  internal  sovereignty  and  its 
powers  respecting  its  own  citizens  and  States.  No  government 
has  the  power  of  making  war  upon  or  invading  its  own  territory 
or  people.  It  is  absurd  even  to  suppose  that  the  States  in 
forming  the  Constitution  ever  meant  to  give,  or  ever  did  give, 
the  power  to  Congress  to  make  war  upon  and  invade  them. 
Congress  was  given  the  power  to  wage  war  and  to  repel  in 
vasion,  to  protect  the  States  and  their  people  against  foreign 
powers  ;  and  it  was  given  the  power  to  execute  the  laws  of 
the  Union  and  the  States,  and  to  suppress  insurrection  against 
the  authorities  of  either  the  States  or  the  Union. 

17 


258  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

The  Congress  could  not  make  war  upon  the  States  or  their 
people,  or  invade  them  ;  but  yet  internal  and  intra-territorial 
war  is  expressly  provided  for  in  the  tenth  section,  third  para 
graph,  of  the  first  article  of  the  Constitution,  which  provides, 
"  No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  lay  any 
duty  of  tonnage,  keep  troops  or  ships  of  war  in  time  of  peace, 
enter  into  any  agreement  or  compact  with  another  State,  or 
with  a  foreign  power,  or  engage  in  war,  unless  actually  invaded, 
or  in  such  imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit  of  delay." 

This  conditional  and  limited,  or  contingent,  prohibition  to 
the  States  proves  that,  without  its  inhibition,  each  State  would 
have  retained  all  these  powers  unlimited ;  and  it  shows  that 
the  States  may  now  exercise  them  all  "in  time  of  war,"  and 
that  it  leaves  in  each  State  still  the  power  to  lay  tonnage 
duties,  to  keep  troops  or  ships  of  war  in  time  of  war,  to  enter 
into  any  agreement  or  compact  with  another  State,  or  with  a 
foreign  power,  or  to  engage  in  war,  when  actually  invaded,  or 
when  in  such  imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit  of  delay. 
Thus,  on  the  contingencies  named,  each  State  had  reserved  the 
power  of  war,  internal  or  external,  against  any  State  or  States 
in  the  family  of  nations  at  home  or  abroad.  Each  State,  in 
given  exigencies  of  invasion  or  imminent  danger,  had  retained 
her  power  of  self-defense  and  of  war,  not  only  as  against  for 
eign  states,  but  as  against  sister  States  or  their  common  agent, 
the  Federal  government. 

And  the  very  object  of  this  reservation  is  so  plain  that  the 
effect  of  its  omission  would  have  been  to  expose  a  State  to  the 
necessity  of  passive  submission  to  wrongs  and  inequalities  in  the 
Union,  and  her  citizens  to  the  dreaded  danger  of  halters  for 
treason.  Her  reserved  right  to  declare  war,  at  home  or  abroad, 
when  invaded  or  in  imminent  peril,  retained  to  her  as  a  State  the 
sovereign  right  of  self-protection,  and  to  her  citizens  as  a  people 
the  shield  of  her  sovereignty  against  treason,  its  infamy,  and 
its  penalties.  Each  State,  as  one  of  the  principals  to  the  com 
pact  of  the  Constitution,  might  well  be  expected  to  retain  such  a 
power  ;  but  she  could  not  rationally  be  supposed  to  have  ever 
given  the  power  to  her  own  creature  in  part,  the  Congress,  to 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  259 

declare  war  upon  her  and  to  wrong  and  invade  her  without  the 
right  of  redress.  Thus,  there  was  a  power  of  internal  war,  but 
that  power  was  not  in  Congress ;  it  was  in  the  States,  and  retained 
by  them.  And  this  right  of  the  States,  to  protect  themselves 
against  actual  invasion  and  from  imminent  danger  not  admit 
ting  of  delay,  necessarily  made  each  State  the  judge  of  actual 
invasion  or  of  the  imminent  danger,  without  delaying  for  the 
consent  of  Congress,  on  her  responsibility  as  a  State  to  her 
co-States  and  to  the  Union.  It  was  the  right  of  the  conflict  of 
States,  for  cause,  with  each  other*  or  with  Congress,  in  cases 
of  actual  invasion  or  of  imminent  danger  not  admitting  of 
delay.  It  was  the  right  of  civil  war  between  States,  with 
each  other,  or  with  the  Congress  or  Federal  Executive,  to  re 
dress  wrongs  in  the  cases  named,  as  well  as  with  foreign 
powers  or  with  the  Indian  tribes.  It  was  a  right  under  the 
Constitution,  and  there  was  no  necessity  to  secede  in  order  to 
save  citizens  from  halters.  The  error  of  secession  was,  as  has 
since  been  proved,  that  it  could  not  save  the  citizens  from  the 
accusation  of  treason,  and  that  it  gave  a  pretext  for  applying  the 
absolute  rule  of  the  j us  belli  against  the  States  in  respect  to 
personal  rights  and  to  property.  It  could  not  insure  the  safety 
of  the  citizen,  and  would  annihilate  the  State  rights  by  the 
rule  of  war  inter  gentes,  and  it  has  annihilated  them.  To 
avoid  the  halter  of  treason  it  ran  the  State  into  the  vortex  of 
the  jus  belli.  If  each  Confederate  State  had  remained  in 
the  Union,  and  declared  war  for  actual  invasion  and  for  immi 
nent  danger  not  admitting  of  delay,  her  individual  citizens, 
who  took  up  arms  under  her  laws  for  her  defense,  could  not 
have  been  made  to  answer  for  her  acts,  except  as  enemies  in 
war,  not  as  hostes  chargeable  with  treason  and  felony.  The 
States  in  the  conflict  of  revolution  were  responsible  to  one 
another,  and  their  rights  were  relative  only,  not  absolute,  in 
the  Union ;  but  the  individual  persons  who  were  their  subjects 
and  citizens  could  not  be  made  responsible  either  in  person 
or  in  property  for  the  acts  of  their  States.  They  could  be  held 
responsible  only  for  their  individual  acts  in  violation  of  the 
rules  of  war.  If  not  enlisted  in  the  war,  they,  still  in  the 


260  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

Union,  were  under  the  protection  of  the  Constitution  ;  and  if 
in  the  army  or  navy  or  civil  service  of  the  resisting  or  revolu 
tionary  State,  they  would  have  been  entitled  to  the  character 
of  inimici  non  hostes,  and  could  not  have  been  punished  as 
felons  and  traitors.  Otherwise,  the  compositive  system  of 
government  of  the  United  States  would  be  the  most  dangerous 
and  oppressive  in  the  world.  The  citizen,  however  innocent 
and  bona  fide  his  acts,  for  or  against  his  State,  would  be  be 
tween  Scylla  and  Charybdis,  and  liable  to  be  punished  for 
treason  whether  he  sided  with  his  State  or  against  her.  No 
construction  could  permit  such  perversion  of  every  idea  of  alle 
giance  and  protection.  Where  States  are  in  conflict  with  one 
another,  their  citizens  on  the  high  seas  are  not  pirates,  and  on 
land  are  not  felons.  They  are  then  simply  and  technically 
"enemies.11  ''States11  only  are  responsible  in  the  conflict  of 
States,  either  at  home  or  abroad ;  and,  if  the  general  govern 
ment  had  the  power  to  call  on  the  citizens  of  the  revolutionary 
State  to  execute  its  laws  against  her  and  to  suppress  insurrec 
tion,  and  the  State  also  had  the  right  of  war  to  repel  actual 
invasion  and  to  call  on  her  own  citizens  to  defend  her  against 
imminent  danger  not  admitting  of  delay,  then  no  sane  person 
could  risk  a  residence  in  the  country,  the  moment  a  civil  war 
began,  because  he  would  be  exposed  to  the  penalties  of  treason, 
take  whatever  part  he  might,  either  by  force  or  choice.  The 
truth  is,  the  conflict  of  States  can  never,  in  any  form,  be  called 
or  treated  as  "insurrection."  Without  the  conflict  of  States,' 
there  never  can  be  such  a  thing  as  war,  either  external  or  in 
ternal;  and  where  there  is  war  between  States,  the  persons 
of  their  citizens  or  subjects  are  treated  always  as  inimici 
non  hostes. 

Where  subjects  and  citizens  unorganized  as  a  State  rise  up 
against  the  sovereignty  under  which  they  are  protected,  and  to 
which  they  owe  allegiance,  then  and  then  only  can  they  be  law 
fully  treated  as  hostes  non  inimici.  Belligerency,  in  its  largest 
sense,  means  any  organized  conflict  of  people  in  arms  in  consid 
erable  numbers  sufficient  to  exceed  mere  riot,  rout,  and  unlaw 
ful  assemblage,  in  which  they  have  not  the  sanction  or  authority 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  261 

of  a  State  either  de  facto  or  de  jure.  But  mere  conflict  in  arms, 
by  people  who  have  no  sanction  or  authority  of  a  body  politic 
called  a  State,  is  not  war.  If  it  is  carried  on  at  sea,  it  is  piracy; 
if  on  land,  it  is  felony  and  treason  ;  but  no  acts  of  war  between 
States  are  either  piracy  or  treason.  Their  citizens,  bound  by 
force  as  well  as  by  law  to  obey  the  commands  of  the  sovereign 
of  their  domiciles,  cannot  be  deemed  traitors ;  and  the  States 
themselves  in  conflict  cannot  be  punished  for  treason.  A  State 
cannot  commit  such  a  crime. 

The  instances  of  insurrection  and  rebellion  involving  treason, 
in  this  country,  are  numerous  enough  to  illustrate  every  shade 
of  difference  between  them  and  the  war  between  States  in 
which  no  treason  can  be  committed.  There  are  the  instances 
of  Shays's  Rebellion  in  Massachusetts ;  of  the  Whisky  Insurrec 
tion  in  Pennsylvania ;  of  the  State  of  Franklin  in  the  Territory — 
now  the  State — of  Tennessee  ;  of  the  Hartford  Convention  in 
Massachusetts  ;  of  Georgia  in  the  Tassels  and  Cherokee  dis 
turbance  ;  and  of  the  more  modern  and  striking  case  of  the 
Dorr  Revolution  in  Rhode  Island.  In  every  instance,  the  case 
was  where  mere  citizens  and  subjects,  or  individual  persons, 
numerous  and  having  organization,  but  wanting  the  sanction 
and  authority  and  orders  or  form  of  a  State,  rose  in  resistance 
against  their  governments,  State  and  Federal ;'  they  were  in 
surgents,  rebels,  traitors,  what  law  defines  to  be  "hostes,"  as 
contradistinguished  from  "  enemies,"  because  there  was  no 
war.  Dorr,  for  example,  had  full  and  complete  organization ; 
he  had,  it  was  supposed,  a  majority  of  the  numerical,  though 
not  of  the  conventional,  people  to  back  his  truly  republican  claim 
of  political  rights  against  an  oligarchic  King  Charles  charter, 
odious  to  the  ideas  of  American  liberty ;  and  he  was,  to  a  great 
extent,  quietly  permitted  to  bring  his  organization  to  the  point 
of  popular  revolution  against  the  State.  But  neither  his 
nor  any  other  insurrection  in  our  history  had  the  forms  and 
authority  of  a  State.  In  no  case  was  there  a  conflict  of  States 
with  one  another.  A  State  consists  of  certain  primary  and  sec-  ! 
ondary  elements  of  construction  and  organization,  which  neces 
sarily  give  it  the  power  of  making  war ;  but  no  mere  associa- 


262  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

tion  of  persons,  without  the  attributes  of  a  State,  can  make  war. 
If  they  take  up  arms  against  their  own  governments,  or  against 
foreign  powers  or  people  even,  they  are  alike  hostes  non 
inimici.  But  a  State  cannot  be  a  traitor,  or  guilty  of  treason, 
nor  can  her  citizens  be  traitors  for  obeying  her  mandates.  Any 
organization  to  be  a  State  must  have, — 

1st.  A  territory  with  defined  and  acknowledged  boundaries. 

2d.  A  people,  defined  by  citizenship. 

3d.  A  people,  defined  by  franchise.  The  one  is  the  numerical 
people,  and  the  other  is  the  conventional  and  constitution- 
making  people  of  a  republican  State. 

4th.  Her  conventional  people,  or  voters,  are  the  source  of  her 
laws,  organic  and  statute,  and  they  alone  possess  her  conven 
tional  power. 

5th.  Her  constitution  of  government  founded  and  resting 
alone  on  her  conventional  power. 

Of  these  five  cardinal  and  primary  elements,  the  existence 
and  essence  of  a  republican  State  consist,  and  on  these  they 
depend.  They  are  fundamental  and  organic,  conventional  and 
constitutional.  The  constitution  depends  on  the  convention, 
and  the  convention  on  the  franchise,  and  the  franchise  on  the 
citizenship,  and  the  citizenship  on  the  defined  place  and  the 
time  of  residence.  But,  in  addition  to  these  primary  elements, 
the  body  politic,  called  a  State,  must  necessarily  have  certain 
secondary  attributes,  which  may  be  styled  most  properly  "  mu 
nicipal  :" 

1st.  A  legislative  power,  to  pass  statute  laws  in  conformity 
with  her  constitution 

2d.  An  executive  power,  to  execute  her  constitutional  statutes. 

3d.  A  judicial  power,  to  construe  and  ever  vigilantly  to  guard 
her  constitution,  and  to  decide  upon  public  and  private  rights 
and  wrongs,  according  to  known  and  established  rules  and  pre 
cedents  in  cases  of  judicial  cognizance. 

These  three  attributes  constitute  municipal  government.  By 
these  a  State  exerts  her  powers  and  acts,  but  the  life  of  the  State 
and  her  being  are  in  the  primary  elements;  and  these  organic  and 
municipal  elements  combine  t<>  form  the  government  of  a  republi- 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  263 

can  State.  Her  government  is  distinct  from  her  sovereignty; 
the  former  rests  upon  her  constitution,  and  her  constitution  rests 
upon  her  sovereignty,  which  consists  in  her  conventional  power. 
Her  municipal  government  may  be  driven  away  from  its  seat 
of  power,  but  her  constitution  and  her  sovereignty,  or  conven 
tional  power,  still  remain.  Rebellion,  insurrection,  has  nothing 
but  a  numerical  people,  has  but  mere  numbers  of  persons  ;  it 
has  no  territory,  no  franchise,  no  conventional  power,  no  con 
stitution,  no  municipal  government  of  a  State.  But  each  and 
every  State  of  the  eleven  States  in  the  civil  war  of  the  late 
revolutionary  conflict  of  States  in  this  Union  had  all  the  primary 
and  secondary  elements  of  sovereignty, — territory,  citizens, 
voters,  conventional  power  to  frame  a  constitution  of  govern 
ment,  a  constitution  of  government  formed  and  guaranteed  by 
the  United  States  to  be  republican,  and  a  municipal  government 
giving  laws  over  an  immense  space  to  millions  of  population, 
deciding  upon  laws  and  rights  and  wrongs  under  them,  and 
executing  them,  and  with  the  reserved  power  of  peace  and  war, 
in  the  categories  and  contingencies  above  described. 

The  plain  distinctiqn  between  the  cases  of  States  in  conflict 
with  one  another  or  with  the  Federal  government,  and  the  cases 
of  individual  persons  in  conflict  with  either,  was  blindly  over 
looked  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  war,  and  since  has  been 
broken  down,  and  despotically  on  the  one  side,  or  timidly  on  the 
other,  disregarded.  It  has  been  so  confused  by  error  and  igno 
rance  and  by  usurpation  since  the  war,  that  our  sense  has  been 
astounded  by  the  terms  "  rebel  enemies"  applied  by  judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  !  In  other  words,  or 
rather  to  explain  the  practical  and  intended  meaning  of  this 
solecism  in  terms,  they  have  declared  citizens  rebels  and  States 
enemies,  to  hang  the  former  as  traitors,  and  to  annihilate  the 
rights  of  the  latter  by  reconstruction,  as  enemies  subject  to  the 
arbitrary  and  absolute  rule  of  the  jus  belli.  They  would  not 
observe  the  rule  of  law  in  the  case  even  of  the  lowest  corpora 
tion, — that  where  the  stockholders  constitute  the  company,  and 
the  managers  and  officers  are  their  agents,  necessary  for  the 
conduct  and  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  company,  but  not 


264  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

essential  to  its  existence  as  such,  nor  forming  an  integral  part, 
the  corporation  exists  per  se,  so  far  as  is  requisite  to  the  mainte 
nance  of  perpetual  succession,  and  holding  its  franchises,  the 
non-existence  of  the  managers  not  implying  the  non-existence 
of  the  corporation.     The  corporate  functions  may  be  suspended 
for  want  of  the  means  of  action,  but  the  capacity  to  restore  its 
functionaries,  by  means  of  election,  remains.     So  a  State  may, 
by  internal  war,  by  epidemic,  or  otherwise,  lose  its  governor, 
the  members  of  its  legislature,  the  members  of  its  judiciary, 
and  all  the  chief  officers  or  functionaries  of  its  several  municipal 
departments  of  government,  but  still  the  body  politic  remains, 
consisting  of  the  five  primary  elements  of  a  State,  and  its  capa 
city  to  restore  its  functionaries,  its  mere  municipal  officers,  by 
means  of  election,  remains.     Ay,  and  if  there  be  not  function 
aries  sufficient  to  call  forth  the  conventional  people  to  the  polls, 
then  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  guarantees  that  each 
State  of  the  Union  shall  have  a  republican  form  of  government, 
and  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States — 
not  to  assume  to  make  the  Constitution  for  the  State,  for  she 
has  one  already ;  nor  to  dictate  who  shall  be  her  voters  or  con 
ventional  people,  for  they  are  already  defined  by  the  State  Con 
stitution  ;  but — simply  to  call  forth  her  voters,  already  consti 
tuted  by  an  existing  State  Constitution,  either  to  hold  a  conven 
tion  of  their  own,  or  to  elect  the  functionaries  necessary  to 
carry  on  the   municipal   government   according  to   the    State 
laws.     All  this  beauty  and  harmony  and  symmetry  of  our  com 
positive  system  has  been  destroyed  by  the  timidity  which,  be. 
fore  the  war,  to  escape  halters  plunged  into  the  jus  belli ;  and 
by  the  tyranny  which,  during  and  since  the  war,  has,  to  suit  its 
ends  as  occasion  required,  used  and   applied  all  the  laws  of 
treason,   insurrection,   rebellion,    and  war  in  confusion   wosre 
confounded. 

The  late  civil  revolution  of  States,  or  conflict  of  States  in 
civil  war,  was  governed  by  a  very  different  rule  from  that  which 
governs  either  rebellion  or  insurrection  at  home,  or  even  a  war 
inter  gentes.  And  here  the  wisdom  and  beauty  of  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States,  harmonizing  State  and  Federal  rela- 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  265 

tions,  and  the  relations  of  citizens  to  the  States  and  the  Union, 
rise  up  to  the  admiration  of  all  who  understand  its  provisions, 
and  who  are  just  and  republican  enough  to  execute  them  faith 
fully.  States,  as  we  have  defined,  indestructible  in  their  pri 
mary  elements,  however  liable  to  accident  or  casualty  in  their 
municipal  functionaries,  having  the  corporate  immortality  of 
succession  in  their  cardinal  and  vital  being ;  States,  as  we  have 
seen,  which  existed  before  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
was  formed ;  States,  which  framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  had  the  power  of  war  and  peace,  of  making  treaties  and 
repelling  invasion,  before  the  Union  and  the  Congress  existed. 
And  we  have  seen  that  their  existence  and  their  power  of  war 
for  self-preservation  were  not  merged  in  the  Union,  or  in  the 
metropolitan  government  which  makes  or  executes  the  laws 
of  the  Union;  the  Constitution,  on  the  contrary,  created  a 
"  union  of  States,"  called  the  United  States.  The  Union  was 
made  by  the  States,  and  the  States  were  not  unmade  by  the 
Union.  There  could  be  no  union  of  States  where  no  States 
were  left  to  be  united.  They  existed  de  jure  before  they  made 
the  Union,  and  in  making  it  they  expressly  excluded  the  con 
clusion,  that  thereby  their  own  existence  and  powers  were  ex 
cluded,  or  even  merged,  in  the  formation  of  the  Union.  The 
Constitution  itself— every  declaration,  grant,  limitation,  prohibi 
tion,  or  reservation  of  it — proves  this.  They  each  and  all  still 
retained  every  primary  and  secondary  element  of  States, — their 
distinct  boundaries,  population,  citizenship,  conventional  power 
and  franchise,  and  their  Constitutions,  as  also  their  municipal 
departments  of  government,  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial ; 
as  well  as  all  their  powers  "  not  delegated,"  and  their  powers 
"  reserved," — especially  their  power  of  war  in  cases  of  actual 
invasion  or  of  imminent  danger  "not  admitting  of  delay." 

It  was  under  these  independent,  ungranted,  reserved,  and 
constitutional  powers  of  States  that  certain  States,  resolved  on 
resistance,  should  have  declared  themselves  actually  invaded, 
and  that  they  were  in  imminent  danger  not  admitting  of  delay. 
They  could  not  wait  to  obtain  the  consent  of  Congress,  because 
their  invasion  was  commenced  by  the  Federal  Executive,  sane- 


266  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

tioned  by  Congress.  For  this  they  should  have  engaged  in  war, 
the  war  of  States  with  the  Federal  government  and  with  the  op 
posing  co-States  in  the  Union.  This  they  had  the  right  to  do, 
/  under  the  third  paragraph  of  the  thirteenth  section  of  the  first 
article  of  the  Constitution  which  they  had  themselves  prescribed. 
This  would  have  been  constitutional  war,  war  between  States 
and  governments,  and  this,  under  our  compositive  system,  made 
citizens  of  the  States  involved  in  the  war  inimici  non  hostes. 
They  could  not  have  been  held  individually  responsible  for  the 
war,  and  the  government,  State  or  Federal,  involved  in  the 
war  could  not  have  operated  upon  them  in  person,  except  to 
treat  them  as  lawful  belligerents.  This  would  have  been  ample 
protection  to  them  against  all  prosecutions  for  treason.  It 
was  war,  but  not  war  inter  gentes,  in  which  international  law 
is  the  law  of  sovereignty.  It  would  have  been  a  civil,  in 
ternal,  and  intra-territorial  war,  and  not  subject  to  the  absolute 
rule  of  the  jus  belli  of  the  international  law.  In  this  only 
would  the  war  have  been  peculiar,  that  in  our  Union  of  States 
— called  by  Wheaton  a  Bundesstaat,  a  bundle  or  band  of  States, 
or  a  compositive  system  of  States — the  sovereignty  was  divided 
into  external  and  internal.  The  external  sovereignty  was 
merged  in  the  Union,  and  the  supreme  law  of  that  sovereignty 
was  the  international  law ;  but  the  internal  sovereignty  was 
distributed  between  the  Union  and  the  States;  its  principles 
and  component  parts  could  be  governed  only  by  the  law  of  in 
ternal  sovereignty — the  Constitution  of  the  United  Stales. 

This  civil,  internal  war,  governed  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  the  law  of  internal  sovereignty,  might  have  its 
external  cases,  such  as  those  of  blockade,  inter  gentes ;  but  the 
general  law  of  the  war  would  be  the  law  of  internal  sover 
eignty. 

This  view  has  since  been  sustained  by  Yice-Chancellor  Wood 
in  the  case  of  the  United  States  vs.  Prioleau,  etc.,  1  Jurist,  etc. 
The  States,  as  contradistinguished  from  the  Confederacy,  were 
not  and  could  not  be  made  the  subjects  of  conquest  by  their 
own  governments  under  their  own  law  of  internal  sovereignty, 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  The  United  States  might 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  261 

claim  Confederate  property,  but  could  not  claim  State  property, 
for  the  latter  would  be  governed  not  by  the  international  law, 
but  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  the  law  of 
internal  sovereignty.  This  war  had, — 

First,  its  internal  cases,  involving  rights  of  States  and  of  citi 
zens  and  their  property,  such  as  arrests  and  seizures  on  land, 
and  proceedings  operating  both  in  personam  and  in  rem,  gov 
erned  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  and,  second, 
its  external  cases,  such  as  the  prize  cases,  cases  of  "  prize  or  no 
prize,"  necessarily  cases  inter  gentes,  involving  neutrals  abroad 
as  well  as  belligerents  at  home.  These  external  cases  were 
governed,  of  course,  by  the  absolute  rule  of  the  jus  belli.  No 
other  cases  of  the  war  were  so  governed.  There  were,  third,  a 
mixed  class  of  cases,  contraband  in  their  nature,  in  which  rights 
were  suspended  only  by  the  war.  And  internal  war  could  not 
set  aside  or  destroy  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  or  its 
limitations.  The  internal  cases  could  not  be  governed  by  the 
jus  belli. 

The  supreme  law  of  these  cases  could  only  be  the  constitu 
tional  provisions — first,  of  common  defense  and  self-protection, 
or  the  national  power  to  preserve  and  defend  its  own  authority, 
to  keep  the  peace  and  restore  order ;  second,  to  execute  the  laws; 
and,  third,  to  suppress  force  by  arms. 

This  civil  war  could  be  proclaimed  and  prosecuted  by  the 
Union  internally  only  to  maintain  and  support  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.  The  Federal  government  was  bound  to 
assert  and  exert  its  authority  for  that  purpose,  and  to  execute  (  • 
such  laws  as  were  made  in  pursuance  of  the  Constitution. 
Whatever  was  necessary  and  proper  to  be  done  by  armed 
force  to  maintain  the  Union  and  to  execute  its  constitutional 
laws  might  be  done,  but  no  more.  No  force  for  conquest,  or 
for  any  purpose  of  mere  warlike  penalty,  no  power  for  subjuga 
tion,  could  be  exerted ;  and  the  moment  that  the  laws  could  be 
executed  and  the  authority  of  the  Federal  government  was 
established,  the  powers  of  war  ceased,  and  civil  process  and 
jurisdiction  resumed  their  reign  and  sway  under  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States.  This  had  been  too  fully  discussed 


268  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

and  settled  by  Hamilton,  Edmund  Randolph,  and  Governor 
Mifflin,  during  the  Whisky  Insurrection  in  Pennsylvania,  to 
be  misunderstood.  Every  case,  internal  and  intra-territorial, 
had  to  be  governed  by  the  supreme  law  of  internal  sovereignty, 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  laws  made  in 
conformity  therewith.  The  war-power,  or  military  and  militia 
power,  of  the  Union  was  but  auxiliary  to  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  Union.  The  only  limited  jus  belli  was  the  power 
to  execute  the  laws.  There  could  be  no  other  constitutional  or 
legitimate  purpose  of  the  war  but  to  enforce  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  the  Union. 

Thus  the  wisdom  of  our  Federal  Constitution  was  exhibited 
beyond  that  of  any  other  federation  of  history. 

1st.  It  left  a  war-power  in  the  States  which  shielded  their 
citizens  from  the  crime  or  penalties  of  treason. 

2d.  It  saved  alike  the  States  and  their  rights,  and  the  rights 
of  the  persons  and  property  of  their  citizens,  in  the  conflict  of 
States,  from  the  arbitrary  and  extreme  application  of  the  abso 
lute  rule  of  the^ws  belli  of  international  law. 

And  is  it  any  argument  against  this  clear  exposition  of  our 
compositive  system,  to  say  that  it  leaves  internal  war  by  the 
States,  either  as  to  States  or  persons,  without  its  penalties  ? 

The  reply  is,  that  war  of  that  kind  has  no  penalties  but  those 
of  war, — its  battles,  its  death,  its  wounds,  its  captives,  and  cap 
tures  in  war.  This  wise  result  was  intended  expressly  by  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution — by  the  States  themselves.  They 
wisely  foresaw  that  a  minority  of  States  might  be  wronged  by  a 
majority  ;  and  the  dread  of  war  alone,  which  could  win  nothing 
by  conquest  and  impose  no  ultimate  penalties  beyond  the  effect 
of  arms,  might  deter  a  majority  from  violating  the  Constitution. 
If  it  did  not,  then  the  Constitution,  proprio  vigore,  would  pro 
tect  the  States  and  their  people  in  fighting  for  their  rights  and 
for  its  guarantees. 

But  these  views,  just  and  clearly  sustained  as  they  are  by  the 
laws  of  nations  and  by  the  Constitution  of  the  Union,  and  ably 
expounded  as  they  have  been  by  Hamilton  and  Edmund  Ran 
dolph,  early  in  our  history,  and  afterwards  by  Wheaton  in  his 


THE  SEVENTH   DECADE. 

"Elements,"  and  since  the  war  by  Judge  Treat,  in  the  Missouri 
cases,  were  all  scouted.  And  so  distinctly  have  they  been  set  at 
naught  since  the  war,  in  contrast  with  the  precedents  before, 
that  whilst  Congress  claims  that  persons  attached  to  the  Con 
federacy  were  traitors,  it  at  the  same  time  claims  that  by  the 
rights  of  war  between  States  it  could  dictate  franchise  and  citi 
zenship  and  constitutions  of  government  to  States  having  con 
stitutions  already  defining  citizenship  and  franchise,  in  defi 
ance  of  the  law  of  internal  sovereignty,  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  In  the  Rhode  Island  case,  the  Federal  govern 
ment  deemed  itself  incompetent  to  interpose  for  the  people,  to 
afford  them  the  opportunity  of  changing  the  king's  charter  into 
a  Constitution,  even  under  the  constitutional  clause  making  it 
imperative  on  the  United  States  to  guarantee  to  each  State  a 
republican  form  of  government.  So  sacred  was  the  principle 
then  held,  that  neither  the  Federal  Executive  nor  the  Con 
gress  dared  to  interfere  with  a  State  Constitution,  to  modify, 
change,  or  destroy  it,  or  even  to  assist  the  State's  own  people 
to  change  it  for  a  better.  But  now,  it  has  been  seen  that  by 
act  of  Congress  no  less  than  eleven  of  the  State  Constitutions 
already  existing,  and  not  destroyed  by  the  war  or  in  the  least 
impaired  by  it,  have  been  set  aside  and  annulled  by  statutory 
reconstruction,  founded  solely  on  the  rights  of  war  and  the  force 
of  the  Jus  belli.  The  conflict  of  States  has  been  made,  by  Con 
gress,  internal  rebellion,  to  hang  citizens ;  and  external  and 
intergential  war  between  States,  in  order  to  strip  States  by  the 
jus  belli  of  the  right  of  self-government. 

Some  few  of  us  foresaw  this,  but  we  were  unheeded ;  and 
when  the  conflict  came,  Mr.  Tyler,  after  attending  the  Peace 
Convention  and  presiding  over  it  in  vain,  for  war  was  then  in 
evitable,  unfortunately  sided  with  secession  as  the  mode  and 
measure  of  redress,  instead  of  "fighting  in  the  Union  for  the 
Union!" 

Alas  I  few  at  that  time  could  see  the  great  truth,  the  most 
conservative  and  beautiful  in  our  compositive  system,  that  the 
conflict  of  States  in  our  Union  is  neither  insurrection  nor  rebel 
lion,  but  is  civil  and  internal  war;  and  being  internal  and 


270  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

civil,  it  is  not  governed  by  the  law  of  external  sovereignty,  the 
jus  gentium,  with  its  absolute  rule  of  the  jus  belli,  but  by  the 
law  of  internal  sovereignty,  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States;  the  domestic  sovereignty  of  the  States  saving  indi 
vidual  citizens  from  the  halters  of  treason ;  and  the  law  of 
internal  sovereignty,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
saving  both  States  and  their  citizens  from  the  penalties  of  the 
jus  belli. 


CHAPTER    XY. 

THE   SEVENTH   DECADE,  FROM   185O    TO   1863. 

Peace  Convention — Virginia's  Attitude — Rapid  Rush  of  Events  from  the  4th  of 
February  to  the  18th  of  March,  1861— The  Part  of  Mr.  Tyler— His  Speech 
on  opening  the  Peace  Convention — Virginia's  Delegates  disagree  among 
themselves — The  Rule  in  the  Case  of  Hylton  va.  United  States,  as  to  Uni 
formity  and  Equality  of  Taxation  throughout  the  United  States,  contended 
for  by  Mr.  Tyler — Proclamation  of  the  Federal  Executive,  and  its  Effect — 
The  Seizure  of  Harper's  Ferry — Secession  declared  by  Virginia  on  the  17th 
of  April,  1861— What  Virginia  ought  to  have  done— Mr.  Tyler  elected  to  the 
Confederate  Congress — His  Death— The  Obituaries— His  Will. 

THE  Peace  Convention  was  called  by  Virginia.  She  had  not 
as  yet  assumed  the  attitude  of  the  Confederate  States  already 
seceded,  or  of  the  Federal  government,  or  of  neutrality.  Her 
first  movement  was  that  of  a  peace-maker.  There  stood  the 
colossal  power  of  the  Union,  north,  and  there  the  States  com 
bined  in  secession,  south ;  and  here  was  Virginia,  the  mother 
of  States  and  of  statesmen,  midway  between  the  bristling 
bayonets  of  the  belligerents,  her  territory  and  people  easily 
accessible  to  invasion  from  either  north  or  south,  and  she  was 
physically  compelled  to  look  to  her  safety,  and  morally  bound 
to  take  which  ever  side  her  judgment  pronounced  to  be  that 
of  justice,  law,  and  right.  She  was  sure  to  be  "  actually  in 
vaded,"  and  was  already  in  "  such  imminent  danger  as  not  to 
admit  of  delay."  Whatever  may  have  been  the  position  of 
other  States,  her  prompt  and  decisive  action  was  impelled  by 
necessity  and  force.  She  was  obliged  to  take  up  arms,  but 
did  not  do  so  hastily,  nor  until  after  she  had  exhausted  her 
efforts  at  conciliation.  This  call  for  a  Peace  Convention  was 
mainly  the  work  of  Mr.  Tyler.  He,  with  Mr.  Rives  and  Mr. 
Summers,  was  sent  to  the  convention  on  the  4th  of  February, 
and  on  the  6th  of  February,  1861,  it  met  at  Washington  and 

(271) 


272  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

was  organized.  On  the  4th  of  February,  1861,  the  Confederate 
Congress  met  at  Montgomery,  Alabama.  The  Convention  of 
Virginia  met  at  Richmond  on  the  13th  of  February,  1861.  The 
Confederate  Constitution  was  adopted  at  Montgomery,  and 
President  Davis  was  inaugurated,  on  the  18th  of  February, 
1861.  And  the  Peace  Commissioners  appointed  by  Virginia 
reported  back  to  the  governor  and  legislature  on  the  18th  of 
March,  1861.  Thus,  in  about  forty  days  and  jforty  nights,  this 
deluge,  like  the  flood  which  destroyed  the  world,  gathered,  and 
there  was  no  Noah  and  no  Ark  to  save  us  ! 

The  part  which  Mr.  Tyler  took  in  the  Peace  Convention,  and 
in  respect  to  its  results,  was  the  most  glorious  of  his  life.  It  alone 
is  a  monument  worthy  of  any  name.  He  acted  the  part  not  only 
of  a  Father  of  his  State,  but  of  his  whole  country.  An  Ex-Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  he  was  made  president  of  the  con 
vention  called  by  his  State  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  United 
States,  and  it  was  the  hope  of  many  at  the  time  that  the  peace 
would  be  preserved.  But  the  convention  was  too  late.  If  it 
had  been  called  a  year  before,  or  if  Virginia  had  drawn  her  sword 
for  self-defense  at  once,  instead  of  delaying  or  dallying  for  com 
promises,  war  might  have  been  averted.  But  the  State  had  not 
drawn  her  sword,  and  the  Peace  Convention  sat  almost  after 
the  clash  of  arms  had  begun.  From  the  National  Intelligencer 
of  Wednesday,  February  6,  1861,  we  extract  an  account  of 
some  of  the  proceedings  of  the  convention,  and  the  speech  of 
the  President  elect: 


"THE  COMMISSIONED'  CONVENTION. 

"  The  convention  of  delegates  from  the  several  States  co 
operating  with  Virginia  in  the  work  of  national  preservation 
was  yesterday  organized  by  the  unanimous  election  of  the  Hon. 
John  Tyler  as  its  permanent  President,  and  of  the  Hon.  J.  C. 
Wright,  of  Ohio,  as  Secretary. 

"  In  selecting  by  acclamation  for  their  presiding  officer  the 
distinguished  Ex-President  of  the  United  States,  the  members 
of  this  dignified  body  have  conferred  an  honor  which  will 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  273 

be  as  worthily  worn  as  it  was  gracefully  proffered,  and  the  ap 
propriateness  of  whose  bestowal  will  be  recognized  by  their 
countrymen  throughout  the  whole  land.  It  was  fitting  that  one 
who  had  swayed  the  destinies  of  this  great  people  as  the 
Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Union  should  preside  over  deliberations 
which  have  for  their  object  to  preserve  that  Union  which  our 
fathers  created. 

"  And  as  affording  gratifying  evidence  of  the  patriotic  inspira 
tions  under  which,  as  its  President  conceives,  this  convention 
of  delegates  from  so  many  States  is  called  to  labor  for  the  pres 
ervation  of  the  government,  we  take  pleasure  in  giving  to  our 
readers  the  subjoined  authentic  report  of  the  eloquent  and  ap 
propriate  address  delivered  by  Mr.  Tyler  on  taking  the  chair  : 

"  '  GENTLEMEN, — I  fear  you  have  committed  a  great  error  in 
appointing  me  to  the  honorable  position  you  have  assigned  me. 
A  long  separation  from  all  deliberative  bodies  has  rendered  the 
rules  of  their  proceedings  unfamiliar  to  me  ;  while  I  should  find 
in  my  own  state  of  health,  variable  and  fickle  as  it  is,  sufficient 
reason  to  decline  the  honor  of  being  your  presiding  officer.  But, 
in  times  like  these,  one  has  little  option  left  him.  Personal 
considerations  should  weigh  but  lightly  in  the  balance.  The 
country  is  in  danger :  it  is  enough, — one  must  take  the  place 
assigned  him  in  the  great  work  of  reconciliation  and  adjust 
ment. 

"  '  The  voice  of  Virginia  has  invited  her  co-States  to  meet 
her  in  council.  In  the  initiation  of  this  government  that  same 
voice  was  heard  and  complied  with,  and  the  results  of  seventy 
odd  years  have  fully  attested  the  wisdom  of  the  decisions  then 
adopted.  Is  the  urgency  of  her  call  now  less  great  than  it  was 
then  ?  Our  godlike  fathers  created ;  we  have  to  preserve. 
They  built  up,  through  their  wisdom  and  patriotism,  monuments 
which  have  eternized  their  names.  You  have  before  you,  gen 
tlemen,  a  task  equally  grand,  equally  sublime,  quite  as  full  of 
glory  and  immortality.  You  have  to  snatch  from  ruin  a  great 
and  glorious  confederation,  to  preserve  the  government,  and  to 
renew  and  invigorate  the  Constitution.  If  you  reach  the  height 

18 


2U  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

of  this  great  occasion,  your  children's  children  will  rise  up  and 
call  you  blessed.  I  confess  myself  to  be  ambitious  of  sharing  in 
the  glory  of  accomplishing  this  grand  and  magnificent  result.  To 
have  our  names  enrolled  in  the  Capitol,  to  be  repeated  by  future 
generations  with  grateful  applause, — this  is  an  honor  higher 
than  the  mountains,  more  enduring  than  monumental  alabaster. 

"  '  Yes,  Virginia's  voice,  as  in  the  olden  time,  has  been  heard. 
Her  sister  States  meet  her  at  the  council-board.  Vermont  is 
here,  bringing  with  her  the  memories  of  the  past,  and  reviving 
in  the  recollection  of  all  her  Ethan  Allen,  and  his  demand  for 
the  surrender  of  Ticonderoga  in  the  name  of  the  Great  Jehovah 
and  of  the  American  Congress.  New  Hampshire  is  here,  her 
fame  illustrated  by  memorable  annals,  and  still  more  lately  as  the 
birthplace  of  him  who  won  for  himself  the  name  of  Defender  of 
the  Constitution,  and  who  wrote  that  letter  to  John  Taylor 
which  has  been  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 

"'Massachusetts  is  not  here.'  (Some  member  said,  'She  is 
coming.')  '  I  hope  so,'  said  Mr.  Tyler,  '  and  that  she  will  bring 
her  daughter,  Maine.  I  did  not  believe  it  could  well  be  that 
the  voice  which,  in  other  times,  was  so  familiar  to  her  ears,  had 
been  addressed  to  her  in  vain.  Connecticut  is  here ;  and  she 
comes,  I  doubt  not,  in  the  spirit  of  Roger  Sherman,  whose 
name  with  our  very  children  has  become  a  household  word,  and 
who  was  in  life  the  embodiment  of  that  sound  practical  sense 
which  befits  the  great  lawgiver  and  constructor  of  governments. 
Rhode  Island,  the  land  of  Roger  Williams,  is  here,  one  of  the  two 
last  States,  in  her  jealousy  of  the  public  liberty,  to  give  in  her 
adhesion  to  the  Constitution,  and  among  the  earliest  to  hasten 
to  its  rescue.  The  great  Empire  State  of  New  York,  repre 
sented  thus  far  by  but  one  delegate,  is  expected  daily  in  fuller 
force,  to  join  in  the  great  work  of  healing  the  discontents  of  the 
time  and  restoring  fraternal  feeling. 

" '  New  Jersey  is  also  here,  with  the  memories  of  the  past  cov 
ering  her  all  over.  Trenton  and  Princeton  live  immortal  in  story, 
the  plains  of  the  last  encrimsoned  with  the  heart's  blood  of  Vir 
ginia's  sons.  Among  her  delegation  I  rejoice  to  recognize  a  gallant 
son  of  a  signer  of  the  immortal  Declaration  which  announced 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  275 

to  the  world  that  thirteen  Provinces  had  become  thirteen  inde 
pendent  and  sovereign  States. 

"  'And  here,  too,  is  Delaware,  the  land  of  the  Bayards  and 
the  Rodneys,  whose  soil  at  Brandywine  was  moistened  by  the 
blood  of  Virginia's  youthful  Monroe. 

"'  Here  is  Maryland,  whose  massive  columns  moved  into  line 
with  those  of  Virginia  in  the  contest  for  glory,  and  whose  State- 
house  at  Annapolis  was  the  theater  of  the  spectacle  of  a  suc 
cessful  commander  who,  after  liberating  his  country,  gladly 
ungirthed  his  sword  and  laid  it  down  upon  the  altar  of  that 
country. 

"'Then  comes  Pennsylvania,  rich  in  Revolutionary  lore, 
bringing  with  her  the  deathless  names  of  Franklin  and  Morris, 
and,  I  trust,  ready  to  renew  from  the  belfry  of  Independence 
Hall  the  chimes  of  the  old  bell  which  announced  freedom  and 
independence  in  former  days. 

"  'All  hail  to  North  Carolina,  with  her  Mecklenburg  Declara 
tion  in  her  hand,  standing  erect  on  the  ground  of  her  own 
probity  and  firmness  in  the  cause  of  the  public  liberty,  and  repre 
sented  in  her  attributes  by  her  Macon,  and  in  this  assembly  by 
her  distinguished  son,  at  no  great  distance  from  me. 

"  '  Four  daughters  of  Virginia  also  cluster  around  the  council- 
board  on  the  invitation  of  their  ancient  mother.  The  eldest, 
Kentucky,  whose  sons,  under  that  intrepid  warrior,  Anthony 
Wayne,  gave  freedom  of  settlement  to  the  territory  of  her  sister 
Ohio.  She  extends  her  hand  daily  and  hourly  across  "  la  belle 
rividre"  to  grasp  the  hand  of  some  one  of  kindred  blood  of  the 
noble  States  of  Indiana  and  Illinois  and  Ohio,  who  have  grown 
up  into  powerful  States  already,  grand,  potent,  and  almost  im 
perial. 

" '  Tennessee  is  not  here,  but  is  coming, — prevented  from  being 
here  only  by  the  floods  which  have  swollen  her  rivers.  When 
she  arrives,  she  will  wear  the  badges  on  her  warrior  crest  of 
victories  won,  in  company  with  the  Great  West,  on  many  an 
ensanguined  plain,  and  standards  torn  from  the  hands  of  the 
conquerors  at  Waterloo. 

" '  Missouri  and  Iowa,  and  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Minne- 


276  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

sota,  still  linger  behind ;  but  it  may  be  hoped  that  their  hearts 
are  with  us  in  the  great  work  we  have  to  do. 

"  '  Gentlemen,  the  eyes  of  the  whole  country  are  turned  to  this 
assembly  in  expectation  and  hope.  I  trust  that  you  may  prove 
yourselves  worthy  of  the  great  occasion.  Our  ancestors  proba 
bly  committed  a  blunder  in  not  having  fixed  upon  any  fifth 
decade  for  a  call  of  a  general  convention  to  amend  and  reform  the 
Constitution.  On  the  contrary,  they  have  made  the  difficulties 
next  to  insurmountable  to  accomplish  amendments  to  an  instru 
ment  which  was  perfect  for  five  millions  of  people,  but  not 
wholly  so  as  to  thirty  millions.  Your  patriotism  will  surmount 
the  difficulties,  however  great,  if  you  will  but  accomplish  but 
one  triumph  in  advance,  and  that  is,  a  triumph  over  party. 
And  what  is  party,  when  compared  to  the  task  of  rescuing  our 
country  from  danger  ?  Do  that,  and  one  long,  loud  shout  of 
joy  and  gladness  will  resound  throughout  the  land !' 

"  The  choice  made  by  the  convention  in  the  selection  of  its 
secretary  will  be  recognized,  by  all  who  know  Mr.  Wright,  as 
an  appointment  eminently  fit  to  be  made;  and,  this  patriotic 
council  having  thus  auspiciously  initiated  its  deliberations,  we 
may  be  permitted  to  hope  that  its  results  will  not  disappoint 
the  just  expectations  of  the  American  people." 

The  convention  failed.  The  Virginia  delegates  did  not  them 
selves  agree  as  to  the  conditions  of  peace.  Mr.  Tyler  differed 
widely  from  his  colleagues,  Rives  and  Summers.  Mr.  Summers 
contended  for  extreme  concessions,  and  he  and  Mr.  Rives  both 
blundered  egregiously  in  thinking  that  the  slave  States  would 
gain  much  by  accepting  a  proposition  that  the  Territories  should 
not  tax  slaves  in  their  limits  otherwise  than  as  they  should  or 
might  tax  all  other  persons.  Mr.  Tyler  showed  them  that  already, 
by  the  rules  of  uniformity  of  taxation  in  respect  of  duties,  excises, 
and  imposts,  and  by  the  rule  of  equality  as  to  direct  taxes,  consist 
ing  only  of  tax  on  land  and  the  poll  tax,  the  Constitution  itself 
protected  the  people  of  all  the  States  and  Territories  against 
Federal  taxes  which  were  either  wanting  in  uniformity  or  in 
equality,  as  shown  by  one  of  the  earliest  cases  decided  by  the 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  217 

Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  the  case  of  Hylton  vs.  the 
United  States.  And  to  take  such  a  condition  as  something  new 
for  a  compromise  was  to  concede  that  it  was  not  already  pro 
vided  for  and  guaranteed.  In  the  debate  with  Mr.  Summers 
before  the  Virginia  State  Convention,  in  March,  1861,  on  their 
different  reports,  Mr.  Rives  being  present  as  a  spectator,  Mr. 
Tyler  was  very  able,  though  in  feeble  health.  That  was, 
perhaps,  the  last  long  effort  of  his  mind  on  any  important 
and  exciting  topic,  and,  though  feeble  in  body,  he  sustained 
himself  admirably.  He  was  no  longer  hopeful  of  peace,  and^ 
the  Federal  Executive's  proclamation  against  rebellion  and 
insurrection  compelled  him  to  give  his  voice  for  secession  at 
once. 

The  Convention  of  Virginia  had  appointed  a  committee  of 
twenty-one  members  to  deliberate  upon  the  proper  action  of  the 
convention.  Sixteen  out  of  the  twenty-one  of  this  committee 
had  at  first  been  opposed  to  secession,  were  warmly  for  the 
Union,  and  but  five  were  for  resistance  by  arms  in  self-defense. 
The  Union  majority  on  this  committee  was  for  delay,  for  com 
promise,  for  anything  rather  than  war.  They  held  back  their 
report  to  the  very  last,  and  some  of  them  held  conferences  with 
Secretary  Seward  himself  at  Washington  for  some  mode  of 
conciliation.  We  happened  to  be  one  of  the  minority  of  five, 
though  not  favoring  secession,  but  preferring  to  fight  in  the 
Union;  and  when  the  committee  was  compelled  to  report  it  was 
very  much  divided.  It  split  into  three  divisions :  the  majority 
report  eschewed  disunion  and  war;  a  minority  report  favored 
remaining  in  the  Union,  but  advised  armed  resistance  within  its 
pale,  in  case  of  invasion  and  war,  in  self-defense,  and  the  forming 
of  a  provisional  league  with  the  revolutionary  States  without 
forming  a  new  and  separate  government  from  that  of  the  United 
States;  and  then  a  third  division  of  the  committee  voted  against 
both  the  majority  and  minority  reports,  and  were  for  immediate 
secession  and  junction  with  the  Confederate  States  government  at 
Montgomery.  Just  as  these  reports  were  made,  the  proclamation 
of  the  President  of  the  United  States  was  hurled  like  a  bolt  of 
war  into  our  midst:  instantly  all  differences  ceased,  and  the 


278  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

resolution  of  secession  was  adopted  at  once,  with  but  few  dis* 
sentients,  who  retired  from  the  body. 

The  effect  of  the  proclamation  was  to  cause  this  not  well- 
considered  action.  But  for  it,  it  is  thought  that  a  better  course 
than  that  of  secession  would  have  been  taken.  But,  besides 
the  .Executive  proclamation,  there  was  another  cause  of  rather 
too  hasty  action.  During  the  early  and  latter  part  of  the  ses 
sion  of  the  convention  the  secessionists  were  accused  of  getting 
up  sensational  reports  and  rumors.  It  was  known  that  the 
government  at  Washington  had  ordered  and  commenced  the 
preparation  of  Fortress  Monroe,  at  Old  Point  Comfort,  for  the 
purpose  of  invasion,  and  there  were  daily  rumors  of  other 
preparations  of  the  President  and  Congress  for  aggression. 
These  rumors  were  sneered  at  and  slighted  by  those  opposed  to 
secession,  as  Democratic  telegrams,  until,  at  last,  the  announce 
ment  was  made  to  the  convention  that  a  portion  of  the  citizens 
of  the  Valley  of  Virginia  were  inarching  in  force  upon  Harper's 
Ferry  to  capture  the  arsenal  and  arms  of  the  United  States  at 
that  place.  The  secret  history  of  that  important  event  has 
never  yet  been  divulged,  and  may  never  be  until  this  genera 
tion,  at  least,  shall  be  laid  in  the  dust,  but  the  materials  are 
well  preserved.  The  event  was  electric  in  its  effect  of  fusing 
the  Virginia  Convention  into  one  mass  of  secession.  The  procla 
mation  at  Washington  and  this  event  at  Harper's  Ferry  found 
their  denouement  in  the  Declaration  of  Secession  by  Virginia 
on  the  17th  March,  1861.  Then  was  the  time  for  a  mediatorial 
armed  neutrality  on  the  part  of  this  State,  to  say  to  the  North, 
"Hold  back!"  and  to  the  South,  "Give  up"  their  slaves  in 
order  that  their  masters  may  remain  free ! — then  was  the  time, 
if  Congress  would  proceed  to  force  submission,  to  have  formed  a 
provisional  government  merely,  with  an  alliance  or  compact  of 
States,  for  defense  within  the  pale  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union.  But  the  rush  of  Virginia  to  secession  from  the  Union, 
and  to  a  junction  with  the  revolutionary  States  into  a  separate 
Confederacy,  with  a  President  and  Congress,  under  a  perma 
nent,  fixed  form  of  government,  accelerated  by  the  proclamation 
and  by  the  seizure  of  Harper's  Ferry,  had  begun,  and  there  was 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  279 

no  stopping  it  short  of  the  extreme  to  which  it  went,  of  dis 
union  and  of  war.  The  Harper's  Ferry  seizure  and  the  affair 
of  the  Gosport  Navy-Yard  were  nearly  cotemporaneous,  and 
then  the  war  commenced  in  deadly  earnest. 

After  the  Declaration  of  Secession  by  the  convention,  Mr. 
Tyler  went  home  to  his  constituents,  in  the  Charles  City  dis 
trict,  and  declared  himself  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  HOUS.C 
of  Representatives  of  the  Confederate  Congress,  and  was  elected 
by  a  large  majority  over  two  formidable  opponents.  He  came 
to  his  work  with  a  zeal,  life,  and  energy  hardly  to  be  expected 
at  his  period  of  life,  being  then  seventy-one  years  of  age.  In 
1861  he  had  overreached  his  threescore  years  and  ten;  yet  his 
intellect  was  as  bright  as  it  had  ever  beamed  on  deliberative 
assemblies.  He  served  actively  and  with  the  admiration  of 
his  compeers,  a  Nestor  in  their  counsels,  beloved  and  heeded 
by  all,  until  he  was  stricken  down  in  his  harness  of  civil  ser 
vice,  hopeful  and  hard-working  to  the  last, — a  lover  of  the 
Union  until  he  found  it  was  to  be  the  instrument  of  destruction 
to  State  Rights  and  civil  liberty,  and  then  its  enemy  only  in 
the  sense  of  defense  against  the  aggression  in  its  name  upon 
those  for  whom  it  was  intended  to  be  a  shield  and  buckler. 

We  have  purposely,  and  for  good  reasons,  omitted  at  this  op 
portunity  to  publish  the  history  of  the  seizure  of  Harper's  Ferry 
and  of  the  powder-magazine  at  Norfolk ;  but  there  is  one  inci 
dent  which  occurred  early  in  1861  which  we  may  relate  without 
danger  to  any  person,  and  the  truth  of  which  is  due  to  a  dead 
patriot,  whose  name  we  have  already  tried  to  do  justice  to,  and 
due  to  the  art  of  naval  war,  which  he  eminently  contributed  to  | 
promote.  James  Barron  was  not  only  the  inventor  of  the 
metallic  blocks  and  the  ship  ventilator  of  our  navy,  and  the 
best  instructor  upon  the  time  and  mode  of  cutting  and  preserv 
ing  ship  timber,  but  his  genius  caused  the  construction  of  the 
iron-clad  steamer,  the  Virginia,  for  the  Confederate  defense. 
He  was  dead  long  before  the  Confederate  war,  and  his  idea  of 
the  marine  catapulta  lived  after  him. 

For  the  several  years  between  1833  and  1844,  when  we 
served  on  the  Committee  of  Naval  Affairs  of  the  House  of 


280  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

Representatives  in  Congress,  James  Barren  was  continuously 
urging  upon  that  committee  his  invention  of  an  impregnable 
steam  propeller  armed  with  a  pyramidal  beak  on  the  water-line. 
He  could  never  obtain  an  appropriation  for  the  experiment.  It 
was  deemed  visionary.  He  offered  to  place  his  model  under 
the  guns  of  Fortress  Monroe,  and  to  perish  with  it  if  it  could 
be  penetrated  and  sunk.  He  had  nicely  tried  the  maximum 
penetration  of  coast  and  ship  guns  of  all  calibers,  and  then  cal 
culated  .the  thickness  gained  by  an  inclined  plane,  with  a  view 
not  only  to  impenetrability,  but  to  the  angle  of  ricocheting  shot. 
Four  feet  thickness,  perpendicular,  for  example,  when  inclined, 
became  six  or  eight  or  ten  feet,  according  to  the  angle  of  in 
clination  towards  the  horizontal.  The  form  of  the  model,  then, 
from  stem  to  stern,  and  from  side  to  side,  above  water,  would  be 
a  terrapin-back  at  a  very  acute  angle  of  incidence  to  a  shot  fired 
from  a  ship's  gun  deck;  so  acute  that  the  shot  would,  especially 
by  solid  oak,  be  deflected  upwards,  and  could  never  perforate 
the  sides  or  upper  works.  He  proposed  to  carry  one  heavy 
stern  and  one  bow  gun,  and  four  starboard  and  four  port  guns, 
all  in  iron  casemate  port-holes.  But  his  most  offensive  armor 
was  the  pyramidal  beak.  The  ship,  braced  and  samsoned 
abow  by  all  possible  inner  appliances,  was  given  a  cut-water 
of  the  greatest  strength,  sheathed  with  iron,  and  the  beak  was 
made  solid  to  it,  and  bearing  not  on  the  ribs  of  the  bow,  but 
impinging  altogether  upon  the  keelson,  continuous  as  possible 
with  it.  The  upper  side  of  the  beak  was  made  to  commence 
on  the  water-line,  and  descended  in  several  steps,  so  that  the 
end  would  be  under  water  just  deep  enough  to  strike  upon  the 
counter  of  the  enemy's  ship,  and  the  lower  side  of  the  beak 
was  nearly  horizontal.  The  object  of  the  pyramid  was  strength, 
to  impinge  under  the  water-line,  and,  above  all,  when  the  beak 
penetrated,  to  prevent  the  enemy's  ship  from  hanging  on  it  and 
carrying  the  bow  of  the  propeller  down  with  her  in  sinking. 
He  calculated  exactly  the  momentum  of  his  model  at  any  given 
rate  of  speed,  showing  that  no  kind  of  ship  then  known  could 
bear  the  concussion  of  his  beak  at  even  three  miles  an  hour  rate 
of  speed.  He  was  a  master-mechanic  and  draughtsman,  and 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  281 

presented  his  memorial  and  model  in  the  most  demonstrated 
formula.  Being  the  only  one  on  the  committee,  we  believe,  who 
gave  him  an  ear  of  attention,  he  presented  us  with  his  model, 
and  we  had  it  at  our  residence  when  secession  was  declared  by 
Virginia. 

We  signed  the  ordinance  of  secession,  and  returned  to  the 
county  of  Princess  Anne,  ill,  before  the  convention  adjourned, 
and  witnessed  the  vandal  and  cowardly  destruction  of  the  navy- 
yard  at  Gosport.  The  Pennsylvania  ship  of  the  line  had  fired 
the  morning,  noon,  and  evening  guns  in  the  harbor  for  years, 
and  her  broadside  was  pointed  upon  the  town,  shotted  ;  and  a 
merciful  Providence  alone  prevented  her  balls  from  riddling 
that  portion  of  Norfolk  where  the  laboring  and  poor  people 
chiefly  resided.  The  fire  from  the  sail-lofts  fortunately  fell 
upon  the  middle  of  her  decks  and  burnt  them  through,  so  as  to 
lower  the  breeches  and  elevate  the  muzzles  of  the  guns  before 
they  became  so  hot  as  to  explode,  and  thus  the  broadside  of 
shot  passed  over  the  town,  doing  no  damage.  The  guns  boomed 
with  a  muffled  sound,  as  if  smothered  partially  by  the  water  in 
the  sinking  ship.  It  was  ominous  ;  it  was  the  knell  of  either 
the  Union  or  of  liberty,  and  can  never  be  forgotten  by  those 
who  heard  it  with  enough  of  divine  grace  to  hope  to  forgive 
the  craven  incendiaries  who  lighted  the  torches  of  the  glaring 
conflagration  !  The  burning  of  the  Gosport  Navy-Yard  and 
its  abandonment  was  the  most  dastard  and  disgraceful  devasta 
tion  of  the  war.  They  were  frightened  by  a  ruse  of  Mahone, 
rattling  his  empty  cars  up  and  down  the  railroad  and  alarming 
the  cowards  with  the  apprehension  of  the  rapid  movement  of 
considerable  bodies  of  troops.  They  were  not  self-possessed 
enough  to  distinguish  the  sound  of  empty  cars  from  that  of 
loaded  cars.  But  the  result  of  their  fears  caused  every  thought 
and  sense,  as  well  as  every  feeling,  of  the  Confederates  to  be 
aroused.  Our  wits  went  to  work  at  once,  and  the  model  of 
Ban-on  came  to  our  mind.  We  immediately,  by  letter,  described 
it  to  General  Lee,  and  the  tender  was  made  of  six  hundred 
acres  of  pine  and  oak,  in  four  miles,  by  water,  of  the  Gosport 
Navy-Yard,  with  a  steam  saw-mill  already  cutting  timber  at 


282  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE    UNION. 

the  spot.  He  was  informed  that  Barren  especially  recom 
mended  that  the  draft  of  the  steamer  should  not  exceed  ten  or 
twelve  feet  of  water.  General  Lee  was  then  in  State  com 
mand,  and  had  State  means  only ;  but,  through  him,  doubtless, 
the  Merrimack  was  raised  and  converted  into  the  Virginia  iron 
clad.  Commodore  Barren's  ideas  were  not  carried  out  in  her 
construction.  The  naval  architect  did  not  calculate  accurately 
the  weight  of  masts,  spars,  rigging,  and  upper  works  taken  off, 
compared  with  the  weight  of  iron  sheathing  put  on,  and  the 
consequence  was  that  when  launched  the  hulk  stood  out  of 
water  several  feet  higher  than  the  sheathing  reached  down  the 
sides.  This  was  remedied  by  ballast,  which  made  the  vessel 
draw  eighteen  feet  of  water,  in  order  to  dip  the  sheathing  below 
the  water-line.  Then,  too,  the  beak,  instead  of  being  pyramidal 
or  inclining  on  the  upper  surface,  was  made  horizontal  on  the 
upper  and  inclined  upwards  on  the  lower  side.  This  caused  it 
to  break  in  sinking  the  Congress  and  Cumberland  frigates.  We 
have  a  cane  made  of  its  live-oak  wood,  and  were  told  it  was 
perhaps  as  large  a  solid  piece  of  it  as  was  left  unfrasseled  by 
the  concussions.  We  witnessed  the  fight  with  the  Monitor 
and  Merrimack,  and  the  great  fault  of  the  Virginia  was  that 
she  drew  too  much  water  and  was  an  unwieldy  "  wave-wal- 
lower."  But  it  was  a  grave  error  ever  to  have  blown  her  up. 
There  was  no  necessity  for  it,  and  the  pilots  agreed  in  that 
opinion.  Enough  ballast  could  have  been  thrown  out  to  gain 
five  or  six  feet  in  her  draft,  and  she  might  have  been  taken  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Chickahominy,  and  would  have  prevented  all 
approach  from  below,  and  all  crossing  of  the  James  at  Harri 
son's  Lauding. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

DECADE    BEGINNING    IN    1861    AND   ENDING  JANUARY  18 r  1863. 

Death  of  Mr.  Tyler — Proceedings  of  the  Legislature  of  Virginia — Pr<  *eedings 
of  the  Confederate  Congress — The  Citizens  of  Richmond  did  him  Homage 
and  Sepulture  at  Hollywood  Cemetery,  where  his  Remains  lie;  an!  Honor 
was  done  his  Memory  even  in  Baltimore  at  that  Hazardous  Time — Item  in 
his  Will  touching  his  Burial. 

AT  the  time  of  his  demise  Mr.  Tyler  was  a  member  of  the 
provisional,  and  member  elect  of  the  permanent,  Confederate 
Congress. 

On  the  18th  day  of  January,  A.D.  1862,  at  the  city  of  Rich 
mond,  after  a  short  illness,  in  the  full  possession  of  his  mental 
faculties,  conscious  that  death  was  near,  calm  and  collected,  he 
bade  this  world  farewell,  and  departed  this  life  with  dignity  and 
without  fear,  perfectly  composed,  a  firm  believer  in  the  atone 
ment  of  the  Sou  of  God,  and  in  the  efficacy  of  his  blood  to  wash 
away  every  stain  of  mortal  sin. 

He  was  by  faith  and  by  heirship  a  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  of  Christ,  and  never  doubted  Divine  Revelation.  He 
was  an  honest,  affectionate,  benevolent,  loving  man,  who  had 
fought  the  battles  of  this  life  bravely  and  truly,  doing  his 
whole  great  duty  without  fear,  though  not  without  much  unjust 
reproach  ;  with  a  genial  soul,  glowing  with  good  will  to  man, 
and  reverence  to  God,  and  so  righteous-that  his  worst  enemy 
on  earth  might  well  pray,  "  Oh  that  my  latter  end  be  like  his  !" 

He  had  forgiven  all  his  foes  long  before  he  died,  and  did  them 
more  than  justice  whenever  he  spoke  of  their  despiteful  usage 
to  him.  In  the  last  scenes  of  our  intercourse  with  him  in  the 
convention  which  declared  secession,  he  passed  in  that  body  a 
eulogy  on  Henry  Clay,  so  undeserved  from  him  upon  one  who 

(283) 


284  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE    UNION. 

had,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  so  fiercely  denounced 
him,  that  we  could  not  refrain  from  reproaching  him  privately 
for  uttering  even  what  was  truthful  in  the  encomium.  But  for 
this  charity  and  this  forgiving  temper  and  disposition  he  was 
richly  and  rarely  rewarded.  No  man  in  all  history  ever  so  out 
lived  calumny  and  all  enmity  of  others  as  he  did.  When  he  left 
his  fellow-men  he  left  nothing  in  their  hearts  and  memories  but 
admiration  and  veneration  of  his  character,  and  the  remem 
brance  of  the  good  deeds  he  had  done.  And  his  good  deeds 
were  not  "interred  with  his  bones."  They  are  now  living  in 
the  policy  his  Presidency  pursued. 

Immediately  on  the  day  of  his  death,  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  State  of  Virginia  took  obituary  action. 

SENATE. 
« DEATH  OF  PRESIDENT  TYLER. 

"  The  President  laid  before  the  Senate  the  following  communi 
cation  from  the  Executive  : 

"  EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  January  18,  1862. 

"  GENTLEMEN  OP  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  DELEGATES, — 
John  Tyler  departed  this  life  at  his  lodgings,  in  this  city,  after 
a  brief  illness,  at  twelve  o'clock  last  night.  Mr.  Tyler  has 
served  the  people  of  Virginia  with  ability  and  distinction,  in 
various  public  positions,  for  almost  half  a  century.  He  has  served 
in  the  General  Assembly,  on  the  Executive  Council,  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  as  Governor  of  the 
State,  Senator  in  Congress,  Yice-President  and  President  of  the 
United  States,  member  of  the  State  Convention  of  1829-30 
and  the  Convention  of  1861,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was 
a  member  of  the  Provisional  Congress,  and  a  member  elect  of 
the  Permanent  Congress,  of  the  Confederate  States.  His  ser 
vices  have  been  important  and  valuable  ;  and  in  all  of  these  posi 
tions  he  has  fully  met  the  public  expectations.  The  loss  of  such 
a  man,  at  a  time  when  his  talents  and  experience  are  so  greatly 
needed  in  the  public  councils,  is  a  calamity  greatly  to  be  de- 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  285 

plored.  Well  may  the  people  of  Virginia  and  the  Southern 
Confederacy  mourn  for  the  loss  of  one  not  less  distinguished 
for  his  manly  virtues  than  his  brilliant  career  as  a  statesman. 

"Respectfully, 

"  JOHN  LETCHER. 

"  On  motion  of  Mr.  Dickinson,  of  Prince  Edward,  the  commu 
nication  was  laid  on  the  table  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

"A  message  was  received  from  the  House  of  Delegates,  com 
municating  resolutions  commemorating  the  death  of  Hon.  John 
Tyler.  The  preamble  and  resolutions  were  read  by  the  clerk 
of  the  Senate,  as  follows : 

"  The  mournful  intelligence  of  the  decease  of  John  Tyler,  after 
a  brief  illness,  has  cast  a  gloom  over  this  General  Assembly. 
The  sad  news  will  spread  throughout  his  native  State  with 
painful  effect.  It  will  be  heard  throughout  the  Southern  Con 
federacy  with  deep  and  abiding  sorrow.  He  has  filled  a  large 
space  in  the  history  of  his  country.  Heaven  has  blessed  him 
with  length  of  days,  and  his  country  with  all  her  honors.  He 
has  secured,  we  believe,  a  blissful  immortality. 

"  For  the  page  of  history  his  fame  is  destined  to  occupy,  it  is 
proper  briefly  to  recount  the  many  offices  he  has  filled.  From 
youthful  manhood  to  green  old  age,  he  has  served  his  country 
faithfully,  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  where  his 
ripening  intellect  displayed  the  promise  of  usefulness,  and 
attracted  attention  ;  as  a  member  of  the  Executive  Council, 
where  his  wholesome  advice  lent  wisdom  to  authority  ;•  as  the 
Governor  of  this  Commonwealth,  where  his  administrative 
powers  gave  efficacy  to  law,  and  his  execution  of  the  will  of 
the  people,  expressed  by  their  representatives,  was  rendered 
pleasant  by  kindness  and  courtesy ;  as  a  member  of  the  first 
convention  called  to  amend  the  State  Constitution,  in  which 
body  his  ripened  experience  gave  his  counsel  the  force  of  wis 
dom  and  prudence  ;  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  the  United  States,  standing  firm  amid  the  rage  of  party 
spirit  and  remaining  true  to  principle  and  to  right ;  as  a  Senator 
representing  this  State  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in 


286  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

which  he  shone  conspicuous  for  his  strict  adherence  to  constitu 
tional  obligation  and  for  his  manly  defense  of  the  rights  of  the 
States  and  the  honor  of  the  country ;  as  Yice-President  of  the 
United  States,  presiding  over  the  deliberations  of  the  Senate 
with  dignity  and  impartiality,  preserving  the  decorum  of  a  body 
that  then  was  a  model  for  legislative  assemblies ;  as  President 
of  the  United  States,  when  the  national  honor  and  reputation 
were  acknowledged  unimpeached  and  unimpaired  in  every  land, 
and  the  powers  of  the  earth  looked  up  to  the  new  government 
as  an  exemplar  of  morals  and  of  power  worthy  of  respect  and 
imitation.  He  thus,  step  by  step,  ascended  to  the  eminence 
from  which  he  surveyed  his  country,  peaceful  and  glorious,  and 
calmly  retired  in  dignity  to  a  private  station,  happy  in  the  con 
templation  of  a  bright  career,  happy  in  a  refined  and  prosperous 
home,  happy  in  the  circle  of  family  and  friends. 

"  His  State  called  him  again  into  her  service.  She  was  to  be 
assembled  in  convention  to  resist  oppression,  and  to  withstand 
a  galling  tyranny  against  which  her  best  men  chafed.  His  ser 
vices  were  invoked  to  aid  in  maintaining  the  high  position  she 
had  heretofore  occupied.  He  came  from  his  retirement.  He  ad 
vised  separation  in  peace,  or  war  to  vindicate  her  honor.  He 
was  again  selected  a  commissioner  to  tender  to  the  govern 
ment  at  Washington  the  terms  upon  which  Virginia  would 
remain  united  with  her  former  sisters.  He  was  honored  with 
the  presidency  of  that  Peace  Conference.  His  manly  appeals 
for  justice  were  uttered  and  unheeded.  He  returned,  and 
reconrtnended  separation  and  independence.  His  advice  was 
taken.  It  became  necessary  to  form  and  establish  another 
government  for  the  new  Confederacy.  He  was  appointed  by 
the  Sovereign  Convention  of  Virginia  a  member  of  the  Provis 
ional  Congress.  While  occupying  a  conspicuous  place  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Confederacy,  and  the  new  government  was  as 
suming  its  permanent  basis,  he  was  elected  by  the  people 
a  member  to  the  first  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Con 
federate  States,  with  a  fair  promise  still  of  usefulness,  to  stamp 
his  wisdom  upon  the  enduring  monuments  of  a  new  national 
existence. 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  287 

"  But  it  pleased  the  Almighty  to  check  his  career,  and  take 
him  to  Himself. 

"  Such  is  the  brief  outline  of  the  career  of  John  Tyler.  In 
private  he  was  the  perfect  gentleman,  the  warm-hearted,  affec 
tionate,  social,  and  delightful  companion  ;  it  may  be  said  of  him, 
his  kind  hand  ministered  to  the  wants  of  the  distressed. 

"fiesolved,  By  the  General  Assembly,  as  a  testimonial  of  a 
nation's  sorrow  for  the  death  of  a  great  and  good  man,  that  a 
joint  committee  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Delegates  be  ap 
pointed  to  confer  with  a  committee  of  the  Congress  of  the  Con 
federate  States,  to  make  arrangements  for  his  funeral  and  burial. 

"  Resolved,  That,  with  the  consent  of  his  family,  his  remains 
be  deposited  in  Hollywood  Cemetery,  in  the  city  of  Richmond, 
near  the  remains  of  James  Monroe,  and  that  the  Governor  of 
this  State  be  authorized  to  cause  a  suitable  monument  to  be 
erected  to  his  memory. 

"  Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  forthwith  communicated 
by  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Delegates  to  the  Congress  of  the 
Confederate  States,  with  a  request  that  they  concur  therein. 

"  Mr.  Branch,  of  Williamsburg,  said  that  as  he  had  the  honor 
to  represent  a  part  of  the  district  in  which  the  deceased  had 
lived  during  a  long  life  of  public  service,  he  moved  the  unani 
mous  adoption  of  the  preamble  and  resolutions  which  had  come 
from  the  House. 

"Mr.  Robertson,  of  the  city  of  Richmond. — '  I  cannot  permit 
the  occasion  to  pass  without  saying  a  few  words  to  express  my 
sense  of  the  merits  and  virtues  of  a  deceased  friend.  On  my 
way  to  the  Capitol  this  morning,  I  learned  that  John  Tyler, 
late  President  of  the  United  States,  had  paid  that  debt  which, 
sooner  or  later,  must  be  exacted  of  us  all.  It  was  my  good 
fortune  to  be  acquainted  with  him,  I  may  say  intimately,  from 
early  life,  dating  from  my  college  days.  I  have  known  him  in 
all  the  walks  and  through  all  the  relations  of  life.  It  were  need 
less  for  me  to  recount  the  attributes  of  his  character,  his  integ 
rity,  his  high  attainments,  his  devotion  to  his  country.  I  am 
not  accustomed  to  the  language  of  eulogy.  Fortunately  for  me, 
and  fortunately  for  my  friend,  he  needs  none.  The  high  places 


288  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

of  trust  which  he  has  received  through  his  whole  life,  commend 
him  to  the  hearts  of  all. 

"'Sir,  if  there  was  any  one  trait  that  marked  his  character 
more  than  another,  it  was  his  firm  devotion  to  those  principles 
which  carried  the  American  people  through  the  war  of  the 
Revolution,  and  to  the  same  principles  which,  I  hope,  will  before 
long  carry  us  through  the  struggle  in  which  we  are  engaged. 
I  need  not  speak  more  fully  of  the  many  high  offices  which  he 
has  filled.  They  are  too  well  known  to  be  repeated.  His  acts 
and  his  character  are  identified  with  the  history  of  our  State 
and  country,  and  are  known  in  Europe.  I  am  confident  that  no 
dissenting  voice  will  be  heard  upon  the  passage  of  these  resolu 
tions.  It  is  in  consequence  of  my  representing  this  district  that 
I  felt  it  incumbent  on  me  to  make  these  few  remarks.' 

"Mr.  Dickinson,  of  Prince  Edward,  had  not  intended  to  have 
uttered  one  word  on  this  mournful  occasion.  He  had  not  even 
heard  of  the  illness  of  Mr.  Tyler  till  he  was  startled  (while  on 
his  way  to  this  chamber)  with  the -sad  announcement  which 
filled  him  with  sorrow  and  surprise.  'Deeply  sympathizing  in 
the  just  tribute  to  his  memory,  which  these  resolutions  so  appro 
priately  propose,  I  should  be  untrue  to  the  promptings  of  my 
own  heart,  and  unfaithful  in  reflecting  the  high  appreciation  in 
which  he  was  held,  by  those  whom  I  represent  on  this  floor,  if 
I  failed  to  unite  in  expressing  my  own  grief  and  theirs.  Unlike 
the  venerable  senators  who  have  preceded  me,  I  am  too  young 
to  have  been  admitted  to  the  relations  of  personal  intimacy  with 
the  distinguished  and  lamented  dead,  which  they  enjoyed.  And 
yet  from  my  boyhood  it  was  my  privilege  to  know  and  regard 
him  as  a  friend  and  political  guide.  As  a  public  man,  I  have 
been  accustomed  to  look  to  the  principles  which  governed  his 
career  with  more  than  ordinary  respect. 

"'I  am  untaught,  sir,  in  the  language  of  eulogy  ;  my  heart  is 
too  full  to  attempt  it  on  this  sad  occasion.  Nor  is  it  necessary 
that  I  should.  Our  illustrious  friend,  by  a  long  life  of  useful 
ness  in  the  public  service,  extending  through  a  period  of  half  a 
century,  in  every  dignified  position,  from  a  seat  in  this  Assem 
bly  to  the  Presidential  chair,  wrote  his  own  eulogy  in  his 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  289 

country's  history.  By  his  talents  and  attainments,  his  unyield 
ing  integrity  and  elevated  devotion  to  principles,  his  lofty  and 
ardent  patriotism,  happily  blended  with  those  high  qualities  of 
public  and  personal  purity,  which  dignified  and  adorned  his 
character,  he  has  erected  in  the  hearts  of  a  grateful  people  a 
monument  which  will  long  be  cherished  as  a  national  treasure. 

"  '  Identified  with  the  history  of  the  country  through  a  long 
and  eventful  life,  mingling  as  he  had  done  in  the  stirring  scenes 
of  party  strife,  it  was  his  happiness  to  outjive  the  animosities 
and  heart-burnings  which  they  engendered,  and  to  be  univer 
sally  regarded  in  the  calm  eve  of  his  life  as  a  patriot  statesman. 
Thus  favored,  he  has  gone  to  his  last  account.  A  patriot  and  a 
statesman  has  fallen,  and  a  nation  mourns  his  loss.  He  fell 
where  he  ever  stood,  foremost  in  the  ranks,  battling  for  the  best 
interests  of  the  country  which  he  loved  with  the  affection  of  a 
pious  son.  These  tidings  will  thrill  with  painful  interest 
throughout  this  young  republic,  in  whose  service  he  has  fallen 
at  the  post  of  duty. 

" '  But,  sir,  there  is  another,  a  narrower  and  a  holier  circle, 
within  which  this  afflictive  stroke  will  fall  with  peculiar  heavi 
ness — where  those  gentle  and  endearing  traits  of  private  virtue 
which  so  eminently  adorned  his  character,  shone  with  unusual 
luster.  I  would  not  intrude  too  soon  upon  the  sanctity  of 
domestic  grief  to  mingle  my  tears  with  theirs ;  yet  I  cannot  fail 
to  remember  that  their  grief,  though  more  poignant  than  ours, 
is  yet  common  to  us  all.  Like  them,  we  too  will  cherish  his 
memory  with  all  that  warm  affection  which  his  life  inspired. 

"  '  I  trust,  and  feel  assured,  that  these  resolutions  will  com 
mand  the  unanimous  assent  of  the  Senate.' 

"  Mr.  Collier,  of  Petersburg,  and  Mr.  Isbell,  of  Jefferson,  also 
spoke.  We  regret  that  we  have  not  space  to  add  to  the  above 
even  the  substance  of  their  feeling  and  eloquent  remarks  upon 
the  character  and  services  of  the  subject  of  the  resolutions.  It 
was  evident  that,  in  the  tributes  that  were  thus  paid,  it  was  the 
aim  of  the  several  speakers  to  rest  the  merits  of  the  distinguished 
statesman  upon  the  single  and  appropriate  language  of  justice 
and  truth. 

19 


290  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE    UNION. 

"  The  committee  nominated  on  the  part  of  the  Senate  to  meet 
the  committee  on  the  part  of  the  House,  to  carry  out  the  object 
designated  in  the  resolutions,  consisted  of  Messrs.  Branch, 
Robertson,  Collier,  Isbell,  Newman,  Johnson,  and  Wiley. 

"  After  the  announcement  of  the  committee  as  above,  the 
Senate  adjourned. 

HOUSE   OP   DELEGATES. 

"  The  House  met  at  12  o'clock,  Mr.  Collier  in  the  Chair. 
Prayer  by  Rev.  Dr.  Moore. 

"  The  Speaker  pro  tern,  presented  to  the  House  the  follow 
ing  communication  from  the  Governor : 

11  EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  January  18,  1862. 

"  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  DELEGATES, — 
John  Tyler  departed  this  life  at  his  lodgings,  in  this  city, 
after  a  brief  illness,  at  twelve  o'clock  last  night.  Mr.  Tyler 
has  served  the  people  of  Virginia  with  ability  and  distinction,  in 
various  public  positions,  for  almost  half  a  century.  He  has  served 
in  the  General  Assembly,  on  the  Executive  Council,  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  as  Governor  of  the 
State,  Senator  in  Congress,  Vice-President  and  President  of  the 
United  States,  member  of  the  State  Convention  of  1829-30 
and  the  Convention  of  1861,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  a 
member  of  the  Provisional  Congress,  and  a  member  elect  to  the 
Permanent  Congress,  of  the  Confederate  States.  His  services 
have  been  important  and  valuable ;  and  in  all  of  these  positions 
he  has  fully  met  the  public  expectations.  The  loss  of  such  a 
man,  at  a  time  when  his  talents  and  experience  are  so  greatly 
needed  in  the  public  councils,  is  a  calamity  greatly  to  be  de 
plored.  Well  may  the  people  of  Virginia  and  the  Southern 
Confederacy  mourn  for  the  loss  of  one  not  less  distinguished  for 
his  manly  virtues  than  his  brilliant  career  as  a  statesman. 

"  Respectfully, 

"  JOHN  LETCHER. 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE,  291 

"  Mr.  Barbour  arose,  and  said  that  the  mournful  fact  communi 
cated  in  that  message  marked  one  of  the  events  in  our  national 
history.  It  would  be  unjust  for  him  to  enter  into  a  eulogy 
upon  the  deceased  statesman.  That  man  was  the  last  great 
link  that  connected  the  generation  that  made  the  first  immortal 
revolution  with  the  generation  that  made  the  present  one. 
Through  all  that  lapse  of  time  John  Tyler  stood  high  in  the 
honor  and  confidence  of  the  people  of  Virginia.  His  name  has 
become  historic. 

"  In  conclusion,  Mr.  Barbour  presented  a  series  of  joint  resolu 
tions  in  reference  to,  Mr.  Tyler's  death,  which  were  unanimously 
adopted.  (The  resolutions  will  be  found  in  our  Senate  report.) 

"  Mr.  Newton,  of  Westmoreland,  said  that,  unprepared  as  we 
all  are  by  this  event,  he  still  felt  that  he  must  offer  his  tribute 
to  a  dear  friend  and  an  illustrious  statesman.  John  Tyler  was 
no  ordinary  man.  He  was  truly  a  great  and  illustrious  one. 
It  might  be  said  of  him,  as  was  said  of  another  illustrious  man, 
'  He  has  sounded  all  the  depths  and  shoals  of  honor.'  There 
was  no  office  that  he  had  not  filled  with  honor.  Though  he 
(Mr.  Newton)  had  been  sometimes  alienated  from  him  in  the 
turmoil  of  political  life,  he  had  ever  been  ready  to  testify  to  his 
worth  and  purity  of  purpose.  Mr.  Newton  adverted  to  memo 
ries  which  such  an  occasion  as  this,  in  this  hall,  brought  flock 
ing  to  his  mind.  When  he  first  entered  here,  John  Tyler  was 
Governor  of  the  Commonwealth.  He  looked  around  in  vain  for 
those  who  then  filled  these  seats.  They  were  all  gone.  He 
looked  towards  the  seat  where  the  Chatham  of  Virginia  was 
wont  to  sit  muffled  in  his  flannels,  or  leaning  on  his  crutch 
(William  B.  Giles),  and  he  could  imagine  he  almost  saw  him 
now,  hurling  his  thunders  at  wrong  and  oppression. 

"  Mr.  Newton  called  over  other  names  of  departed  Virginians 
who  distinguished  this  room  when  he  first  came  here.  Their 
absence  brought  up  mournful  feelings,  and  served  to  teach  us 
the  shortness  of  life. 

"  Mr.  Robertson,  of  Richmond,  said  that  he  was  impelled  by 
feelings  he  could  not  repress,  and  would  not  repress  if  he  could, 
to  offer  a  few  words.  But  he  felt  deeply  pained  to  know  that, 


292  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE    UNION. 

so  suddenly  called  on,  the  tribute  must  be  imperfect  and  utterly 
inadequate  to  the  occasion.  It  was  but  a  few  minutes  only 
since  information  had  reached  him  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Tyler, 
and  in  that  brief  period  it  was  impossible  for  the  mind  even  to 
have  reviewed  the  many  and  illustrious  series  of  his  services, 
or  to  have  catalogued  the  multitude  of  his  virtues.  He  would 
not  attempt  the  hopeless  task.  But  he  might  be  permitted  to 
signalize  the  rare  benignity  of  his  nature,  that  embraced  all  in 
the  folds  of  his  love,  and  in  time  attracted  the  love  of  all  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact ;  for  it  mattered  not  how  far  men  dif 
fered  from  him  in  opinion,  or  blamed  or  approved  his  course, 
still  there  was  that  in  him  which  attracted  all  who  approached 
him.  He  thought  he  had  never  known  a  man  so  universally 
attractive  and  winning  as  John  Tyler,  nor  one  whose  heart  was 
more  open  to  every  genial  and  kindly  affection. 

"  As  a  statesman,  his  career  had  been  eminently  distinguished. 
In  that  highest  part  of  it,  as  President  of  the  United  States,  he 
administered  our  affairs  with  great  ability.  In  that  part  of  it,  in 
particular,  which  concerned  our  foreign  relations,  and  to  which 
other  nations  mainly  look  for  an  estimate  of  a  public  man,  his 
administration  was  a  brilliant  success.  It  may  compare  for 
wisdom,  energy,  and  an  enlightened  perception  of  our  foreign 
policy,  with  any,  even  the  most  brilliant,  of  the  administrations 
that  preceded  it.  I  rejoiced,  therefore,  that  he  still  lived  to  shed 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world  that  just  weight  and  dignity  to  the 
cause  of  the  South,  reflected  on  them  by  his  participation  in 
our  councils.  I  had  even  looked  to  his  carrying  into  a  yet 
higher  sphere  than  that  to  which  he  had  already  been  called,  the 
advantages  of  that  trail  of  glory  as  a  statesman  which,  seen  afar 
off  by  the  nations,  could  not  but  reflect  a  certain  luster  on  the 
new  government  now  undergoing  those  heavy  trials  which  every 
people  must  meet  in  asserting  their  independence.  But  the  hope 
and  all  of  that  future  connected  with  Mr.  Tyler's  name,  on  earth, 
is  past.  Mr.  R.  would  not  pursue  his  remarks  further.  He  was 
too  sensible  how  far  they  fell  short  of  what  his  wishes  or  the 
merits  of  the  subject  demanded. 

"  Mr.  Anderson,  of  Botetourt,  added  his  tribute  to  the  exalted 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  293 

worth  of  the  great  man  who  had  just  left  us.  It  had  been  his 
pleasure  to  have  had  a  long  acquaintance  with  John  Tyler.  He 
had  entered  public  life  when  Mr.  Tyler  was  a  prominent  states 
man  before  the  country.  When  he  was  but  a  youth,  he  had 
first  formed  an  intimacy  with  him  ;  and  neve:  had  an  acquaint 
anceship  been  more  delightful.  He  had  never  met  a  man  of 
more  winning  manners.  He  united  all  the  highest  social  quali 
ties.  No  statesman  had  been  called  to  higher  stations.  No 
one  had  spent  so  much  of  his  life  in  the  service  of  his  country. 
His  career  is  an  example  for  our  young  men.  Notwithstanding 
the  infirmities  of  age,  he  put  on  his  armor  and  stood  forth  in 
the  front  ranks  of  the  defenders  battling  for  their  country's 
rights.  He  did  not  doubt  that  the  news  of  his  death  would 
sink  deep  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  Confederacy.  He  hoped  and  believed  that  he 
was  now  in  a  more  blissful  world. 

"  Mr.  Laidley  could  not  let  the  occasion  pass  without  respond 
ing  for  the  younger  members  of  the  House.  On  their  part  he 
would  say  that  John  Tyler's  life  would  serve  them  as  an  ex 
ample  worthy  of  emulation,  and  that  the  story  of  his  virtues 
should  be  handed  down  to  their  children's  children. 

"  Mr.  Jones,  of  Gloucester,  said  that  he  came  from  the  same 
section  that  gave  John  Tyler  to  Virginia.  He  had  known  him 
in  childhood  ;  indeed,  he  might  say  he  had  been  raised  with  his 
children,  and  in  his  intercourse  with  him  he  almost  looked  up  to 
him  as  a  father.  In  his  college  days  he  had  received  the  same 
fatherly  encouragement  and  assistance.  He  felt,  therefore,  that 
he  knew  him  well  enough  to  say  that  in  every  community 
in  which  he  lived  he  was  without  an  enemy.  All  loved  him 
as  a  friend.  In  his  social  relations  he  was  no  less  esteemed. 
He  would  not  speak  of  his  career  as  a  statesman.  As  time 
advances,  his  name  shall  grow  brighter,  until  time  shall  be  no 
more. 

"  The  Speaker  appointed  the  following  committee  under  the 
resolutions : 

"Messrs.  Barbour,  Robertson  of  Richmond,  Hunter,  Blue, 
Jones  of  Gloucester,  Mallory,  Sanders,  Newton,  Anderson  of 


294  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE   UNION. 

Botetourt,  Sheffey,  McCamant,  Rives,  and  Grattan.     He  also 
appointed  Mr.  Barbour  to  report  the  resolutions  to  the  Senate. 
"  The  House  then  adjourned." 

On  the  Monday  following,  the  20th  of  the  month,  the  Con 
federate  Congress  took  action. 


"  THE  LATE  EX-PEESIDENT  TYLEE, 

"  PROCEEDINGS   IN    CONGRESS. 

"At  the  close  of  the  very  appropriate  tribute  by  Mr.  Macfar- 
land,  published  in  the  Whig  of  yesterday,  Mr.  Hunter,  of  Vir 
ginia,  rose,  and  said: 

"  'I  rise  to  offer  my  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the 
deceased. 

"  '  As  has  been  well  said,  the  name  of  John  Tyler,  now  passed 
into  the  possession  of  history,  has  an  order  of  its  own  in  that 
great  sanctuary.  Its  sojourn  is  over.  Nothing  can  now  dim 
its  luster  as  it  passes  down  the  tide  of  time. 

" '  It  is  said,  sir,  there  is  something  in  the  story  of  the  hum 
blest  life,  which,  if  rightly  told,  will  afford  food  for  profitable 
study.  With  how  much  of  interest,  then,  do  we  turn  to  the 
contemplation  of  the  lives  of  those  who  have  been  martyrs  of 
their  kind,  who  have  left  examples  for  the  imitation  of  posterity; 
of  those  whose  voices  have  been  the  most  persuasive  and  con 
vincing  in  council,  and  whose  shout,  like  that  of  the  king,  has 
been  most  potent  in  marshaling  the  hosts  ! 

"'Among  the  public  men  of  our  day,  John  Tyler  has  been 
one  of  the  most  marked  and  distinguished.  With  him  disap 
pears  the  last,  save  one  who  now  sits  in  this  chamber,  of  those 
great  men  who  adorned  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  when 
I  first  entered  upon  public  life  with  him.  We  shall  bury  the 
last  of  the  line,  the  illustrious  line  of  Southern  Presidents 
whose  names  have  connected  us  with  the  highest  honors  of  the 
Union  from  which  we  have  just  parted.  Does  not  this  deepen 
the  sense  of  our  separation  as  we  see  one  by  one  pass  away, 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  295 

not  only  the  material  links,  but  the  ties  of  personal  association 
which  bound  us  to  those  whom  we  have  lately  left  ? 

"  '  No  man,  Mr.  President,  has  more  fully  completed  the  circle 
of  honors  which  were  opened  to  the  aspirations  of  our  public 
men  than  John  Tyler.  Scarcely  had  he  attained  his  majority 
when  he  was  sent  to  the  House  of  Delegates  in  Virginia.  After 
a  service  of  a  few  years  there,  he  was  successively  elected  a 
member  of  the  Executive  Council,  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States,  Governor  of  the  State 
of  Virginia,  Senator  of  the  United  States,  Yice-President  of 
the  United  States,  from  which,  by  the  death  of  General  Harri 
son,  and  through  the  operation  of  the  Constitution,  he  was 
elevated  to  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  land.  Nor,  sir,  did  his 
career  end  even  there.  When  secession  began  and  presaged 
the  storm  which  is  now  sweeping  over  the  land,  he  was  sent  to 
the  Convention  of  Virginia,  and  by  that  body  to  the  Peace  Con 
gress,  over  the  deliberations  of  which  he  presided ;  thence  to 
this  Congress,  and  afterwards  was  elected  by  his  constituents 
to  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Confederate  Congress, 
soon  to  assemble  in  this  place. 

" '  But,  full  as  was  his  life  of  honors,  it  was  not  more  distin 
guished  by  them  than  by  its  achievements.  From  the  com 
mencement  of  his  public  career,  he  distinguished  himself  in 
whatever  body  he  was  serving,  and  by  his  eloquence  and. 
ability  won  an  honorable  place  in  the  estimation  of  all  with 
whom  he  associated.  An  advocate  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
State  Rights  school  of  Virginia,  he  for  the  most  part  adhered 
to  those  doctrines  with  consistency  throughout  a  long  and  ardu 
ous  career.  Few  men  exerted  themselves  more  to  preserve  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  He  was  among  the  first  of 
our  public  men  who,  with  the  great  Calhoun,  declared  that  "the 
Constitution  and  the  union  of  the  States  was  one  and  insepara 
ble."  From  the  period  of  the  Nullification  controversy,  from 
the  time  when  he  gave  his  solitary  vote  against  the  Force  Bill 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  to  his  last  appearance  in 
Washington  at  the  Peace  Conference,  he  declared  the  Union 
and  the  Constitution  must  live  or  perish  together. 


296  SEVEN  DECADES  OF  THE   UNION. 

"  '  lie  exerted  his  utmost  powers  to  preserve  the  Constitution 
and  the  administration  of  the  executive  affairs  of  the  United 
States.  Forced  to  choose  between  the  desire  to  gratify  the 
wishes  of  his  personal  friends,  who  had  elevated  him  to  the 
office,  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  sense  of  constitutional  obligation 
on  the  other,  he  determined  finally  to  sacrifice  the  friends  with 
whom  he  had  been  associated.  From  that  time  forward  it  was 
his  lot  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the  nation,  over  which  he 
presided  in  the  midst  of  the  severest  party  struggles  the  coun 
try  had  ever  known,  without  the  cordial  support  of  either 
great  political  division  by  which  the  people  were  then  divided ; 
and  he  had  to  discharge  his  high  duties  in  the  face  of  such 
difficulties  as  had  never  been  encountered  by  any  of  his  pre 
decessors.  But,  in  despite  of  that  spirit,  he  called  around  him 
some  of  the  ablest  intellects  of  the  land, — Webster,  Upshur, 
Legare,  Calhoun, — who  aided  him  in  one  of  the  most  success 
ful  administrations  which  appears  in  the  annals  of  American 
affairs. 

"  '  It  was  this  administration  that  added  Texas,  an  empire,  to 
the  Confederacy  ;  and  it  was  this  administration  that  success 
fully  accomplished  the  Ashburton  treaty  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States.  It  was  in  this  administration  that  Mr. 
Calhoun,  in  his  celebrated  letter  to  Mr.  King,  for  the  first  time 
made  a  public  demonstration  in  favor  of  tie  right  of  the  slave- 
holding  States  to  respect  and  protection ;  and  it  was  this  admin 
istration  which  gave  a  final  and  fatal  blow  to  the  United  States 
Bank.  But  prominent,  sir,  as  was  this  administration,  it  was, 
perhaps,  not  so  distinguished  as  his  closing  career.  He  had 
already  reached  the  year  of  threescore  and  ten,  when  he  was 
called  from  his  retirement  to  aid  in  making  up  that  great  issue 
of  human  destiny  which  is  now  being  submitted  to  the  arbitra 
ment  of  trial,  as  it  is  said,  between  nearly  a  million  of  armed  men. 
True  to  the  life-long  professions  of  the  past,  his  first  effort  was 
to  preserve  the  Constitution,  and,  if  possible,  to  save  the  Union 
with  it ;  but,  when  disappointed  in  that  hope,  none  was  more 
determined  than  he  to  cut  loose  his  native  State  from  its  peril 
ous  connection  with  enemies  in  disguise — none  more  resolved 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  297 

to  make  common  cause  with  the  South  and  take  whatever  might 
be  the  consequence  of  the  act. 

"  'We  all  know  he  threw  himself  into  the  cause  with  his  whole 
soul.  Gentlemen  here  present  will  testify  to  the  truth  of  what 
I  say  when  I  affirm  that  to  the  last  he  devoted  himself  to  it 
with  a  courage  that  did  not  quail,  with  a  hope  that  did  not 
falter,  and  with  a  purpose  that  held  out  to  the  last  extremity 
and  relaxed  not  to  the  end. 

"'Mr.  President,  it  may  truly  be  said  that  with  John  Tyler 
there  has  fallen  a  great  man.  I  know,  sir,  that  the  death  of 
any  good  man  is  the  cause  of  grief  to  the  friendly  survivors ; 
and  yet  I  feel  I  do  not  err  when  I  say  that  my  deceased  col 
league  was  as  fortunate  in  his  death  as  in  his  life.  As  a  soldier 
on  the  field  of  battle  falls,  he  fell  at  the  post  of  duty.  A  life, 
when  it  was  full  of  years  and  honors,  passed  away.  He  left  us 
before  age  had  bowed  his  form  or  dimmed  the  luster  of  his  in 
tellect  ;  when  the  future  course  of  his  life  was  about  to  promise 
him  more  of  pleasure  than  grief.  To-morrow  we  shall  deposit 
him  beneath  the  sod  of  that  soil  which  he  loved  so  well — on 
the  beautiful  banks  of  the  James,  where  his  slumbers  will  be 
soothed  by  the  sound  of  its  falling  waters.  Day  after  day,  in 
the  years  yet  to  come,  the  morning  and  evening  shadows  shall 
lend  a  silent  and  varied  charm  to  the  scene  ;  and  when' her  hour 
of  struggle  is  over,  Virginia,  as  she  leans  upon  her  bloody  spear 
to  contemplate  the  past,  and  beholding  the  rising  glories  of  her 
day,  will  lift  her  gauntleted  hand  to  brush  away  the  tear  for  the 
loss  of  him  who,  in  the  decline  of  life,  exhausted  his  dying 
energies  in  her  behalf,  and  staked  his  life,  his  fortune,  his  repu 
tation  upon  the  result,  which  will  bring  her  safety  and  honor. 
Sir,  she  will  embalm  his  memory  in  her  best  affections,  and 
hand  it  down  to  her  generations  yet  to  come ;  and  their  chil 
dren's  children  will  transmit  his  honored  name  as  an  inheritance 
of  princely  value— 'an  heirloom  which  has  already  run  through 
more  than  two  generations  of  distinguished  men. 

" '  But  it  is  not  my  purpose,  sir,  to  draw  a  portrait  of  this 
great  man.  His  is  a  character  which  men  will  choose  to  study 
themselves  ;  and  they  will  seek  it  in  the  monuments  of  his  own 


298  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

creation  rather  than  in  the  testimonials  of  his  friends  ;  but  per 
haps,  sir,  it  will  not  be  deemed  as  usurping  the  historian's  place, 
were  I  to  say  of  him,  he  was  kind  and  genial  in  all  the  relations 
of  private  life,  and  that  he  used  the  gift  of  the  eloquence  with 
which  he  was  so  highly  endowed,  in  the  public  service,  and  not 
for  selfish  purposes ;  that  his  faculties  for  usefulness  seemed 
always  to  rise  to  the  level  of  the  demand  upon  them ;  that  he 
was  most  able  to  discharge  his  duty  under  the  most  difficult 
circumstances,  and  that  he  served  his  native  State  with  a  love 
and  fidelity  which  are  beyond  all  praise. 

"  'Mr.  President,  is  there  no  useful  lesson  which  we  ourselves 
may  draw  from  this  occasion  ?  Is  there  nothing  in  it  that  will 
deepen  our  sense  of  the  uncertainty  of  human  life  and  the  in 
stability  of  human  affairs  ?  Within  how  short  a  period  has 
death  sent  its  summons  in  our  very  midst  ?  Does  not  this  im 
press  us  with  the  utter  worthlessness  of  the  span  of  life  allotted 
to  any  one  of  us,  unless  we  use  it  for  the  purpose  of  preparing 
for  another  and  better  and  more  enduring  state  ?  Do  not  the 
scenes  passing  before  us  impress  on  us  still  more  forcibly  the 
sublime  truth,  "  The  duties  of  life  are  to  be  preferred  to  life 
itself"?' 

"Mr.  Rives,  of  Virginia,  then  spoke  as  follows: 
"  '  I  should  be  wanting,  Mr.  President,  to  my  own  feelings,  if 
not  to  the  memory  of  our  departed  friend,  were  I  not  to  claim 
the  privilege  of  an  older  and  longer  acquaintance  with  him, 
perhaps,  than  any  other  member  on  this  floor  possessed,  to  add 
a  few  words  to  what  has  been  already  so  appropriately  and 
eloquently  said  by  my  honorable  colleagues.  It  is  now  some 
what  more  than  half  a  century  since,  a  school-boy  in  the  ancient 
city  of  Williamsburg,  I  first  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Tyler, 
then  a  law  student  of  our  common  Alma  Mater,  preparing  to 
enter  upon  the  career  of  active  life.  It  was  thus  given  me  to 
observe  the  whole  progress  of  his  orb  in  the  heavens,  from  its 
first  appearance  above  the  horizon,  through  its  meridian  bright 
ness  and  splendor,  to  its  final  and  serene  setting  in  the  western 
sky,  which  we  are  met  this  day  to  commemorate. 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  299 

11 '  As  a  young  man,  when  I  first  saw  Mr.  Tyler,  he  was  dis 
tinguished  by  the  same  blandness  and  courtesy  of  manners,  the 
prepossessing  address,  and  the  graceful  and  captivating  elocution, 
which  we  have  all  seen  displayed  by  him  in  this  hall.  These 
qualities,  the  sure  passport,  in  a  government  like  ours,  to  popu 
lar  favor  and  public  distinction,  bore  him  through  a  succession 
of  public  employments.  As  soon  as  he  was  of  age,  he  was 
elected  by  his  native  county  of  Charles  City  to  the  House  of 
Delegates  of  Virginia.  His  first  session  in  that  body  was,  if 
I  mistake  not,  in  the  memorable  year  of  1811-12,  which  wit 
nessed  the  bold  measure  of  the  declaration  of  war  made  by  the 
United  States  against  Great  Britain ;  and  the  young  legislator 
became  thus  closely  identified  with  that  high-spirited  generation 
of  American  statesmen,  who,  succeeding  immediately  to  the 
great  men  of  the  Revolution — the  conscript  fathers  of  the  Re 
public — continued,  for  thirty  or  forty  years  after  them,  to  con 
duct  the  affairs  of  the  Union  with  a  patriotism,  ability,  and  suc 
cess  worthy  of  their  noble  sires. 

"  '  In  the  different  representative  assemblies  of  which  Mr. 
Tyler  was  successively  a  member,  he  was  brought  into  contact 
with  the  highest  intellects  of  the  age.  In  the  legislature  of 
Yirginia,  he  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Delegates  with 
Littleton  Waller  Tazewell,  Benjamin  Watkins  Leigh,  Charles 
Fenton  Mercer,  Robert  Stanard,  Philip  Doddridge,  General 
Blackburn,  and  many  others  of  the  most  gifted  spirits  of  this 
ancient  commonwealth.  In  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States,  he  was  contemporary  with  Henry  Clay,  William 
Lowndes,  John  Randolph,  Henry  St.  George  Tucker,  John 
Forsyth,  Louis  McLane,  and  a  host  of  other  distinguished  men 
who  then  illustrated  the  national  forum.  Being  generally  the 
youngest  member  of  the  body  to  which  he  belonged,  and  emu 
lous  of  distinction,  he  was  stimulated  to  the  highest  exertion 
of  his  powers  by  the  living  models  of  excellence  with  which  he 
was  surrounded,  and  his  mind  was  thus  kept  in  a  perpetual  pro 
gress  of  development  and  expansion. 

" '  Trained  and  formed  under  these  auspices,  he  proved  him- 
M  to  all  the  various  and  arduous  posts  of  public  duty 


300  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

to  which  he  was  called  by  the  favor  and  confidence  of  his  coun 
trymen.  In  the  highest  of  them  all,  he  gave  an  honorable  proof 
of  the  elevation  and  magnanimity  of  his  character,  bringing  into 
the  leading  Executive  Departments  the  most  towering  talents 
of  the  country,  to  aid  him  in  the  administration  of  the  govern 
ment.  The  selection  of  such  men  as  Webster,  Calhoun,  Legare, 
Upshur,  and  Spencer  proved  how  far  he  was  above  the  opera 
tion  of  any  unworthy  sentiment  of  jealousy,  or  fear  of  being 
overshadowed  in  the  public  estimation  by  his  official  advisers ; 
while  his  personal  management  of  several  of  the  most  delicate 
questions  of  his  administration — I  refer  more  particularly  to  his 
broad  and  comprehensive  treatment  of  the  question  of  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  and  the  firmness  with  which  he  upheld  the 
cause  of  constitutional  republican  government  in  Rhode  Island 
against  the  outbreak  of  an  unlicensed  democracy — attested  the 
large  and  matured  statesmanship  he  had  himself  acquired  in 
the  schools  of  practical  instruction  in  which  he  was  bred. 

"  '  But  this  is  neither  the  time  nor  the  place  to  enter  upon  a 
discussion  of  the  merits  of  Mr.  Tyler's  administration  of  the 
Federal  government,  when,  by  a  sudden  and  unexpected  dis 
pensation  of  Providence,  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  it.  No 
one  would  more  earnestly  have  deprecated  the  revival  of  for 
gotten  controversies  than  himself.  Among  the  qualities  which 
most  eminently  and  honorably  distinguished  him  was  an  habitual 
kindliness  of  disposition,  and  a  generous  appreciation  of  others, 
even  of  those  who  were  his  political  enemies  and  opponents. 
It  was  about  two  years  ago,  in  this  city,  on  a  public  and  mem 
orable  occasion,  he  did  himself  the  highest  honor  by  a  warm, 
spontaneous,  and  manly  tribute  to  the  character  of  a  great  man 
and  deceased  patriot,  who  had  stood  toward  him  in  the  attitude 
of  a  powerful  and  declared  opponent. 

" '  In  reviewing  the  eventful  life  of  Mr.  Tyler,  we  are  led, 
almost  irresistibly,  to  apply  to  him  a  descriptive  epithet  by 
which  the  Romans  were  accustomed  to  express  a  quality  that 
ever  inspired  their  confidence  and  admiration.  By  that  epithet 
—felix — they  did  not  mean  to  designate  a  person  who  was 
merely  fortunate  but  one  who,  by  a  happy  combination  of  well- 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  301 

tempered  attributes,  knew,  in  a  measure,  how  to  command  or 
propitiate  fortune.  This  sentiment  was  embodied  by  them  in  a 
maxim,  tersely  expressed  by  their  great  satirist — nullum  numen 
abest,  si  sit  prudentia.  Thus  it  was  with  Mr.  Tyler.  By  a 
rare  union  of  prudence,  good  sense,  and  good  temper,  set  off  by 
the  natural  gifts  of  oratory  and  a  persuasive  address,  he  won 
the  hearts  of  the  people  and  commanded  the  favors  of  fortune ; 
and  success  waited  upon  him  in  every  step  of  his  public  career. 

" '  Delegate  in  the  legislature  of  his  State,  representative  in 
Congress,  Governor,  Senator,  Vice-President,  President — he 
"sounded  all  the  depths  and  shoals  of  honor;"  and  in  every 
trust  he  acquitted  himself  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  constituents. 
After  having  filled  with  honor  the  highest  offices  of  the  govern 
ment  of  the  Union — which  sank,  at  length,  under  the  degen 
eracy  and  corruption  of  the  times — he  lived  to  take  a  leading 
part  in  the  establishment  of  a  new  Confederacy  for  the  South, 
which  had  all  his  affections  and  all  his  hopes ;  and  as  a  member 
of  this  House,  he  gave  his  anxious  labors  to  the  great  cause  of 
securing  and  perpetuating  the  structure. 

" '  His  duties  as  a  member  of  this  body  engaged  his  deepest 
solicitude.  Unwilling  to  withdraw  himself  from  them  for  a 
single  day  without  the  proper  and  formal  sanction  of  the  House, 
he  said  to  me,  the  day  before  the  fatal  termination  of  his  disease, 
that,  if  he  should  be  compelled  to  go  home  to  recruit  his  health, 
as  he  should  probably  find  it  necessary  to  do,  he  wished  me  to 
apply  to  the  House  for  leave  of  absence  for  him.  A  far  higher 
authority,  the  great  Governor  of  the  Universe,  has  granted  him 
that  leave  of  absence — not  from  this  hall  merely,  but  from  all 
sublunary  concerns  henceforward  forever.  He  now  rests  from 
his  labors ;  but  he  has  bequeathed  to  us  the  rich  inheritance  of 
his  patriotic  example  and  of  his  counsels. 

" '  This  second  admonition  of  the  transitory  tenure  of  human 
existence,  with  which,  after  so  short  an  interval,  we  have  been 
visited  in  this  hall,  reminds  us  most  impressively  that  "the 
paths  of  glory  lead  but  to  the  grave."  But  still  it  is  not  per 
mitted  to  us  to  repine.  "One  generation  passeth  away,  and 
another  cometh ;  but  the  earth  abideth  forever."  Here,  while 


302  SEVEN  DECADES   OF  THE    UNION. 

we  continue,  we  have  our  allotted  work;  and  as  those  who 
have  gone  before  us  have  labored  and  toiled,  so  must  we,  in  our 
turn,  toil  and  labor,  to  carry  forward  the  great  schemes  of 
Divine  Providence  in  the  moral  government  of  the  world;  and 
if  we  do  so  in  humble  submission  to  the  will  of  Him  who 
ruleth  the  destinies  of  men  and  nations,  we,  too,  shall  have  our 
reward.' " 

The  citizens  of  Richmond  did  honor  to  his  remains  in  more 
than  usual  form  of  respect  and  reverence;  and,  in  those  dan 
gerous  times,  when  men  in  Baltimore  dared  hardly  whisper  in 
bated  breath  the  name  of  a  rebel  with  respect,  there  even  tears 
were  not  suppressed,  and  his  praise  and  the  grief  of  mourners 
were  spoken  and  sobbed  out  aloud  over  his  departure. 

His  will  had  been  written  more  than  two  years  before  he 
died ;  and  several  of  its  passages  are  so  remarkably  character 
istic  of  the  man  that  they  are  inserted  : 

"  My  Will.  I.  In  the  name  of  God.  Amen.  This  is  my 
last  will  and  testament,  written  wholly  with  my  own  hand, 
with  my  name  subscribed  thereto,  this  10th  day  of  October,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  1859,  whereby  I  revoke  and 
annul  all  other  wills  and  testaments  heretofore  made  by  me. 

"  II.  In  the  first  place,  I  empower  my  dear  wife  to  make  out 
of  my  estate  suitable  provision  for  my  burial,  which  I  wish  to 
be  accompanied  with  no  unnecessary  expense.  Let  the  people 
of  this  county  [Charles  City],  whose  fathers  helped  me  on 
in  my  battles  of  life  with  a  zeal  and  constancy  rarely  ever 
equaled  and  never  surpassed,  be  invited  to  attend  my  funeral 
obsequies ;  and  let  my  body  be  consigned  to  the  tomb  in  the 
earth  of  the  county  wherein  I  was  born,  there  to  repose  until 
the  day  of  resurrection.  My  wife  will  select  the  spot  on 
'  Sherwood  Forest'  [his  residence],  and  mark  it  by  an  un 
costly  monument  of  granite  or  marble.  I  desire  also  that  she 
will  cause  a  suitable  memorial  to  be  erected  over  the  remains 
of  my  father  and  mother,  at  '  Greenway,'  should  it  not  be 
done  in  my  lifetime ;  inscriptions  both  for  my  own  and  theirs 
will  be  found  in  the  paper  inclosing  this." 


THE  SEVENTH  DECADE.  303 

In  the  sixth  item  he  provides,  "  I  desire  also  that  my  wife 
will  take  good  care  of  my  faithful  servants,  William  Short  and 
Fanny  Hall,  so  that  their  old  age  can  be  rendered  comfortable." 

A  question  was  raised  whether  he  was  born  at  Greenway, 
in  the  county  of  Charles  City,  or  at  Warburton,  in  the  county 
of  James  City.  His  will  settled  that  doubt;  Greenway  was 
undoubtedly  the  residence  of  his  parents,  and  there,  too,  was 
the  birthplace  and  home  of  his  nativity.  There  was  the  cradle 
and  nursery  of  his  infancy,  the  play-ground  of  his  childhood, 
and  there  were  the  scenes  which  caught  the  first  observations 
and  experiences  of  which  he  was  capable. 

In  these  touching  clauses  of  his  will  he  shows  that  beautiful 
amor  loci  which  is  the  foundation  of  the  amor  patrise,  the 
ruling  passion  of  his  life,  the  warm,  natural  poetry  of  his  com 
position — that  poetry  which  Campbell  so  sweetly  sung  : 

"There  is  a  land,  of  every  land  the  pride, 
Beloved  by  Heaven  o'er  every  land  beside, 
There  is  a  spot  of  earth  supremely  blest, 
A  dearer,  sweeter  spot  than  all  the  rest." 

His  land  was  his  country,  his  State  was  Virginia,  and  in 
death  he  clung  to  "the  earth  of  the  county  wherein  he  was 
born," — his  "  dear  wife"  to  "  select  the  spot,"  dearer,  sweeter 
than  all  the  rest,  on  "  Sherwood  Forest,"  and  to  mark  it  by  an 
uncostly  monument  of  granite  or  marble. 

As  yet  his  body  is  interred  at  Hollywood  Cemetery,  near  the 
remains  of  Mr.  Monroe.  It  is  due  that  the  State  of  Virginia 
shall  erect  his  monument.  He  belongs  to  the  State.  But  let 
the  people  of  Charles  City  not  forget  that  they  were  affection 
ately  invited  to  his  "funeral  obsequies,"  and  that  they  will 
but  elevate  and  ennoble  themselves  by  coming  up  every  anni 
versary  of  his  birth  to  pluck  out  every  weed  which  may  intrude 
near  his  grave,  and  to  wreathe  his  tomb  with  "immortelles." 


APPENDIX. 


COLLEGE  OF  WILLIAM  AND  MARY. 

IT  remains  only  to  narrate  Mr.  Tyler's  connection  with  the 
College  of  William  and  Mary,  and  to  express  the  interest  he 
took  in  her  welfare. 

His  Alma  Mater  is  "full  of  years  and  full  of  honors,"  and 
has  been  the  mother  of  instruction  to  pupils  who  have  given 
birth  to  events  of  the  greatest  magnitude  on  this  continent. 

For  an  epitome  of  her  history  we  proudly  refer  to  the  "  Sketch," 
prepared  by  the  lamented  Professor  Morrison,  prefixed  to  the 
latest  published  catalogue,  entitled  "  College  of  William  and 
Mary,  1693  to  1870."  But  in  that  epitome  there  is  an  important 
error.  Why  say  from  1693?  The  college  had  its  foundation 
before  that  year.  As  stated  by  the  professor,  in  1619  a  large 
appropriation  of  land  was  made  to  endow  a  university  to 
be  established  at  Henrico  for  the  colonists  and  Indians ;  and 
it  is  also  true  that  about  the  same  time  contributions  were 
made  through  the  bishops  of  London  to  endow  a  college  in 
Virginia  for  the  Indians,  and  in  1621  a  subscription  was  made 
to  endow  the  East  India  School  at  Charles  City,  and  land  and 
servants  were  allotted  to  it,  and  that  this  was  all  preparatory 
to  the  university  at  Henrico,  and  that  Mr.  George  Thorpe,  a 
gentleman  of  His  Majesty's  privy  chamber,  came  over  to  be 
superintendent  of  the  university,  and  was  in  1622,  with  three 
hundred  and  forty  of  the  colonists,  including  a  number  of  the 
college  tenants,  killed  by  the  Indians.  But  an  important  error 
was  committed  by  the  professor  when  he  added,  "  This  dis- 

20  (  305  ) 


306  APPENDIX. 

aster,  followed  by  the  troubles  in  the  mother  country  (the 
revolution  of  1642),  and,  at  a  later  period,  by  the  discontent 
and  disorders  in  the  colony,  which  were  produced  mainly  by 
the  arbitrary  rule  of  Sir  William  Berkeley,  the  royal  governor, 
and  which  culminated  in  Bacon's  rebellion,  prevented  any  re 
newal  of  the  attempt  to  establish  a  college  in  the  Colony  of 
Virginia  till  the  revolution  of  1688,  which  seated  William 
and  Mary  on  the  English  throne,"  etc. 

Now,  neither  the  massacre  in  1622,  nor  the  revolution  of 
1642,  nor  the  discontent  and  disorders  in  the  colony,  nor  the 
arbitrary  rule  of  Sir  William  Berkeley,  nor  Bacon's  rebellion, 
nor  any  other  cause,  prevented  attempts  to  establish  a  college 
in  the  Colony  of  Virginia  till  the  revolution  in  1688.  Nearly 
thirty  years  before  that  revolution  in  England,  the  "  Grand 
Assembly,"  held  at  James  City,  March  23,  1660-1,  passed 
Act  twentieth,  entitled  "  Provision  for  a  College,"  in  these 
words:  "Whereas  the  want  of  able  and  faithful  ministers  in 
this  country  deprives  us  of  these  great  blessings  and  mercies 
that  allwais  attend  upon  the  service  of  God;  which  want,  by 
reason  of  our  great  distance  from  our  native  country,  cannot  in 
probability  be  alwais  supplyed  from  thence  ;  Be  it  enacted,  that 
for  the  advance  of  learning,  education  of  youth,  supply  of  the 
ministry  and  promotion  of  piety,  there  be  land  taken  upon  pur 
chases  foracolledge  and  free-schoole,  and  that  there  be,  with  as 
much  speede  as  may  be  convenient,  houseing  erected  thereon 
for  entertainment  of  students  and  schollers."  This  act  was 
passed  in  the  13th  Charles  II.  See  II.  vol.  Hening's  "  Statutes 
at  Large,"  p.  25. 

Again  :  at  the  same  session  of  the  Grand  Assembly,  Oc 
tober,  1660-1, 13th  Charles  II.,  "  Act  35th"  was  passed,  entitled 
"  A  Petition  in  behalf  of  the  Church."  "  Be  it  enacted  that 
there  be  a  petition  drawn  up  by  this  Grand  Assembly  to  the 
King's  Most  Excellent  Majestic  for  his  letters  patten  ts  to  collect 
and  gather  the  charity  of  well-disposed  people  in  England,  for 
the  erecting  of  colledges  and  schooles  in  this  countrye,  and 
also  for  his  Majestie's  letters  to  both  Universities  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  to  furnish  the  Church  here  with  ministers  for  the 


APPENDIX.  307 

present  and  this  petition  to  be  recommended  to  the  Right 
Honorable  Governor  Sir  William  Berkeley."  See  Id.,  pp.  30-1. 

Again:  "Att  a  Grand  Assembly  held  att  James  Cittie,  in 
Virginia,  23d  March,  1660-1,  the  following  order  was  made  in 
the  Government  of  the  Right  Honorable  Sir  William  Berkeley, 
his  Majestie's  Governor,  Mr.  Henry  Soanes,  Speaker : 

"Whereas,  for  the  advancement  of  learning,  promoting  piety, 
and  provision  of  an  able  and  successive  ministry  in  this  coun- 
trie,  it  hath  been  thought  fit  that  a  colledge  of  students  of  the 
liberal  arts  and  sciences  be  erected  and  maintayned,  in  pursu 
ance  whereof  his  Majestie's  Governor,  Council  of  State,  and 
burgesses  of  the  present  Grand  Assembly  have  severally  sub 
scribed  several  considerable  sums  of  money  and  quantities  of 
tobacco  (out  of  their  charity  and  devotion)  to  be  paid  to  the 
Honorable  Grand  Assembly  or  such  treasurer  or  treasurers 
as  they  shall  now,  or  their  successors  hereafter  at  any  time, 
appoint,  upon  demand,  after  a  place  is  provided  and  built  upon 
for  that  intent  and  purpose:  It  is  ordered  that  the  commis 
sioners  of  the  severall  county  courts  do,  at  the  next  followinge 
court  in  their  several  countys,  subscribe  such  sums  of  money 
and  tobacco  towards  the  furthering  and  promoteing  the  said 
persons  and  necessary  worke  to  be  paid  by  them  or  their  heirs., 
as  they  shall  think  fitt,  and  that  they  also  take  the  subscriptions 
of  such  other  persons  at  their  said  courts  who  shall  be  willing 
to  contribute  towards  the  same.  And  that  after  such  subscrip 
tions  taken  they  send  orders  to  the  vestrys  of  the  severall 
parishes  in  their  severall  countys  for  the  subscriptions  of  such 
inhabitants  and  others  who  have  not  already  subscribed,  and 
that  the  same  be  returned  to  Francis  Morrison,  Esqr."  See  Id., 
p.  87. 

Again:  "At  a  Grand  Assembly  held  at  James  City,  March 
23rd,  1661-2,  Anoq.  Regni  Rs.  Carol.  SCDI  14,  Act  18th 
March,  1661-2,  14th  Charles  II.,  was  passed  to  make  'Pro 
vision  for  a  College  '  " 

Act  18th,  the  same  as  the  act  before  mentioned,  passed  in 
1660-1. 

These  were  the  acts  of  the  Grand  Assembly,  and  the  orders 


308  APPENDIX. 

of  the  Governor  and  Council  of  the  Colony  of  Virginia,  which 
founded  the  College  of  William  and  Mary. 

We  see — 1st,  that  it  was  founded  for  the  service  of  God. 

2d.  For  the  supply  of  the  ministry  of  the  Established  Church 
of  England,  and  that  it  has  always,  from  the  beginning,  been 
made  the  handmaid  of  the  holy  religion  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

3d.  That  it  was  begun  and  established  for  the  advance  of 
learning. 

4th.   For  the  education  of  youth  ;  and 

5th.  For  the  promotion  of  piety. 

We  have  no  doubt  that  it  was  founded  by  the  bishops  of  Lon 
don,  and  was  called  "  The  College."  It  was  appropriated  for 
by  the  Grand  Assembly  in  lands,  subscribed  for  by  the  govern 
ment,  Council,  burgesses,  and  contributed  to  by  the  Crown,  sub 
scribed  to  by  the  county  courts  and  parish  vestries,  and  by 
private  individuals  largely,  and  doubtless,  under  the  regular 
clergy  of  the  Church  of  England,  was  the  only  college  where 
any  regular,  liberal  teaching  was  had  for  those  of  the  colonists 
who  could  not  send  their  sons  to  the  schools  of  the  mother 
country.  It  had  no  name  but  "The  College,"  and  could  not  have 
had  the  name  of  William  and  Mary  until  after  the  revolution 
of  1688.  Its  charter  and  regular  endowments  were  obstructed 
by  the  revolutionary  and  disturbing  events  both  in  England  and 
in  the  Colony  ;  and  it  had  no  charter  until  the  General  Assembly 
begun  at  James  City,  the  tenth  day  of  October,  in  the  fifth 
year  of  the  reign  of  William  and  Mary  ;  but  it  had  endowments 
and  was  begun  as  early  as  1660-1. 

That  the  college  existed  prior  to  1693  is  clearly  implied  by 

"  Act  III.  October,  1693— 5th"  William  and  Mary, 

which  was  an  act  ascertaining  merely  "the  place"  for  erecting 
the  College  of  William  and  Mary,  in  Virginia.  The  preamble 
of  that  act  recites  the  charter: — That  their  Majesties  had  most 
graciously  pleased,  upon  the  humble  supplication  of  the  General 
Assembly,  by  their  charter,  being  dated  the  eighth  day  of 
February,  in  the  fourth  year  of  their  reign,  to  grant  their  royal 


APPENDIX.  309 

license  to  certain  trustees,  to  make,  found,  erect,  and  establish 
a  college,  named  the  College  of  William  and  Mary,  in  Vir 
ginia,  at  a  certain  place  within  their  government,  known  by 
the  name  of  Townsend's  Land,  and  theretofore  appointed  by 
the  General  Assembly.  And  Townsend's  Land,  previously 
appointed  as  the  place,  was  substituted,  by  the  Middle  Plan 
tation,  as  the  place  for  erecting  the  college  to  be  at  that  place 
erected,  and  built  as  near  the  church,  then  standing  in  Middle 
Plantation  Old  Fields,  as  convenience  would  permit.  (See  3d 
H.  Stats,  at  Large,  p.  122.)  That  place  is  now  the  spot  of 
"  William  and  Mary." 

The  Grand  Assembly  in  1660-1  had  enacted  "that  land  be 
taken  upon  purchases  for  a  College  and  Free  Schoole,  and  that 
there  be,  with  as  much  speede  as  convenient,  houseing  erected 
thereon,"  etc.  And  at  the  same  session  of  October,  1661,  a 
petition  was  enacted  by  the  Grand  Assembly  to  the  King  for 
his  "  letters  pattents  to  collect  the  charity  of  well-disposed 
people  in  England  for  the  erecting  of  colleges  and  schooles." 
And  the  orders  made  at  the  session  of  the  Grand  Assembly,  at 
James  Cittie,  the  twenty-third  March,  1:661,  by  the  Right  Hon. 
Sir  William  Berkeley,  show  that  the  Governor,  the  Council  of. 
State,  and  the  burgesses  of  that  Assembly  had  subscribed  con 
siderable  sums  of  money  and  quantities  of  tobacco ;  to  be  paid 
out  of  their  charity  and  devotion  to  the  Grand  Assembly,  or  such 
treasurer  as  they  should  then,  or  thereafter,  appoint,  upon  de 
mand,  etc.;  and  the  commissioners  of  the  county  courts  were, 
at  their  next  following  courts,  to  subscribe  sums  of  money  and 
tobacco  to  be  paid  by  them  or  their  heirs, — and  their  subscrip 
tions,  and  those  of  private  persons  and  of  the  vestries,  were  to  be 
returned  to  Francis  Morrison,  who  was  made  custodian  of  the 
funds.  Again,  the  act  of  1660-1  was  repeated  in  the  act  of 
1661-2.  Now,  is  it  likely  that,  under  these  acts  and  orders  of 
the  colonial  government,  Governor,  Council,  and  burgesses, 
especially  urging  "  speede,"  and  prompted  by  the  bishops 
and  clergy,  both  in  the  colony  and  in  England,  no  college,  or 
school,  was  provided  without  a  charter?  The  act  of  1793 
attests  that  Townsend's  Land  had  previously  been  selected  for 


310  APPENDIX. 

the  site  of  the  college,  which,  as  yet,  had  no  name.  The  seat 
of  the  government  was  at  Janies  Cittie,  and  Townsend's  Land 
was  on,  or  near,  York  River  ;  and  could  it  be  there  was  no 
school  called  "The  College"  at  or  near  the  capital  of  the  colony, 
at  James  Cittie,  from  1660-1  to  1693  ?  Townsend's  was  changed 
to  Middle  Plantation,  and  Sir  William  Berkeley  had  contributed 
to  the  college,  notwithstanding  his  answer  to  the  inquiries  sub 
mitted  to  him  by  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  Foreign  Planta 
tions,  in  the  book  of  Escheats  of  the  General  Courts,  etc.,  1665  to 
1676.  The  changes  in  1693  were  merely  from  private  contribu 
tion  and  subscription  to  a  public  corporation,  and  from  a  custo 
dian  for  the  colonial  government  to  regularly  constituted  trus 
tees.  The  Grand  Assembly  and  the  council  had  commended 
the  plan  of  the  college  "to  Sir  William  Berkeley,  the  royal  gov 
ernor,"  and  he  had  favored  the  order  and  promoted  the  subscrip 
tions,  notwithstanding  his  prejudices  against  free  schools  and 
printing. 

The  twenty-third  inquiry  submitted  by  the  Lords  Commis 
sioners  of  Foreign  Plantations  to  Sir  William  Berkeley,  governor, 
in  1670,  and  answered  in  1671,  was,  "What  course  is  taken 
about  instructing  the  people  within  your  government  in  the 
Christian  religion?  and  what  provision  is  there  made  for  the 
paying  of  your  ministry  ?" 

Answer :  "  The  same  course  that  is  taken  in  England  out  of 
towns ;  every  man  according  to  his  ability  instructing  his 
children.  We  have  forty-eight  parishes,  and  our  ministry  are 
well  paid,  and  by  my  consent  should  be  better  if  they  would 
pray  oftener  and  preach  less.  But  of  all  other  commodities,  so 
of  this,  the  worst  are  sent  us,  and  we  had  few  that  we  could 
boast  of,  since  the  persecution  in  Cromwell's  tyranny  drove 
divers  worthy  men  hither.  But  I  thank  God  there  are  no  free 
schools  nor  printing,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  these  hun 
dred  years  ;  for  learning  has  brought  disobedience  and  heresy 
and  sects  into  the  world,  and  printing  has  divulged  them,  and 
libels  against  the  best  government.  God  keep  us  from  both  !" 
(33  2d  Hening's  Stats,  at  Large,  p.  517.) 

This  shows  how  aristocratic  was  the  prejudice  of  the  royal 


APPENDIX.  311 

governor  against  popular  instruction,  and  how  anxious  he  must 
have  been  to  establish  "  a  college  of  liberal  arts  and  sciences" — 
liberal  to  the  gentlemen  and  very  illiberal  to  the  people.  His 
ideas  of  "free  schools"  and  "learning"  and  "printing"  must 
have  been  a  forecast  of  Bacon's  rebellion,  which  five  years 
later  drove  him  from  James  Cittie,  across  the  Chesapeake,  to 
Old  Plantation  on  the  peninsula  of  Northampton.  Here,  too, 
we  have  the  true  idea  of  the  modern  meaning  in  America  of 
the  words  "  the  best  government."  Mr.  Hening,  in  a  note  with 
an  index,  says,  "  Nothing  can  display  in  stronger  colors  the 
execrable  policy  of  the  British  government  in  relation  to  the 
colonies,  than  the  sentiments  uttered  by  Sir  William  Berkeley  in 
his  answer  to  the  last  interrogatory.  These  were  doubtless  his 
genuine  sentiments,  which  recommended  him  so  highly  to  the 
favor  of  the  crown  that  he  continued  Governor  of  Virginia 
from  1641  to  1677,  a  period  of  thirty-six  years,  if  we  except 
the  short  interval  of  the  Commonwealth  and  a  few  occasional 
times  of  absence  from  his  government  on  visits  to  England. 
The  more  profoundly  ignorant  the  colonists  could  be  kept,  the 
better  subjects  they  were  for  slavery.  None  but  tyrants  dread 
the  diffusion  of  knowledge  and  the  liberty  of  the  press." — Idem, 
p.  517. 

There  was  no  charter,  doubtless,  until  the  8th  day  of  Febru 
ary,  in  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  William  and  Mary  ;  but 
we  are  authorized,  we  think,  in  claiming  that  "  The  College"  was 
in  existence  from  1660-61.  The  charter  constituted  trustees  of 
a  corporation,  but  the  public  and  private  charity  existed  in  the 
Grand  Assembly,  holding  by  the  hands  of  its  treasurer  for  the 
time  being,  and  by  M.r.  Morrison,  its  custodian.  The  transfer 
of  the  charter  of  William  and  Mary  by  the  trustees  to  the 
president  and  masters  or  professors  was  signed  and  sealed  by 
James  Blair  and  Stephen  Fouace  in  the  second  year  of  the 
reign  of  George  the  Second,  the  said  Blair  and  Fouace  being 
the  only  surviving  trustees,  and  was  attested  by  several  of  the 
newly-appointed  trustees,  among  the  rest  by  William  Goocb, 
Esqr.,  his  Majesty  the  Lieutenant-Governor  and  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  Colony,  and  Alexander  Spottswood,  then  late 


312  APPENDIX 

Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Colony.  And  this  transfer  shows 
that  the  "  messuage"  transferred  was  commonly  called  "  The 
College,"  that  it  was  situated  in  the  parish  of  Bruton,  in  the 
county  of  James  City,  near  the  city  of  Williamsburg. 

William  and  Mary,  thus  consecrated  by  time,  is  made  illus 
trious  in  its  patrons,  officers,  chancellors,  rectors,  visitors,  presi 
dents,  professors,  and  alumni.  Dr.  James  Blair,  of  Scotland, 
an  Episcopal  clergyman,  was  the  first  president,  and,  as  Mr. 
Morrison  informs  us,  he  was  appointed  commissary  or  repre 
sentative  of  the  Bishop  of  London  in  the  colony  in  1689.  At 
the  instance  of  the  bishop,  he  came  as  a  missionary  to  Vir 
ginia  in  1685.  He  was  appointed  president  of  the  college  by 
its  charter,  and  deserves  the  honor,  if  not  of  founder,  of  placing 
the  institution  of  learning  on  a  permanent  and  eminent  estab 
lishment.  His  family  are  still  numerous  in  Virginia,  and  its 
members  well  worthy  of  the  first  president  of  William  and 
Mary.  He  was  a  good,  great,  and  eminent  man,  who  had  the 
grace  of  God  and  the  good  of  men  so  strongly  in  his  heart  and 
head,  that  he  was  enabled  to  contend  with  "  powers"  combined 
against  his  work  and  to  baffle  them  all.  He  built  up  the  col 
lege  from  its  first  regular  foundation,  and  deserves  first  to  be 
remembered  among  the  first  of  its  patrons,  under  the  authority 
and  control  of  the  bishops  of  London. 

The  first  chancellors,  until  1764,  were  the  bishops  of  London. 
In  1764  theEarl  of  Hardwicke  was  chancellor.  From  1764  to  1776 
the  bishops  of  London  resumed  that  office.  From  1788  to  1799 
George  Washington  was  chancellor.  The  college  held  the  office 
of  Surveyor-General  of  the  colony,  and  among  those  appointed 
by  it  to  that  office  were  George  Washington,  Zachary  Taylor, 
the  grandfather  of  President  Zachary  Taylor,  and  Thomas  Jef 
ferson.  No  chancellor  seems  to  have  been  appointed  from  the 
death  of  George  Washington  until  1859,  when  Ex-President 
John  Tyler,  of  Charles  City,  was  appointed;  and  to  the  day  of 
his  death  he  felt  as  honored  in  succeeding  George  Washington 
in  that  office,  as  he  did  in  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States. 
The  visitors  named  in  the  charter  were  gentlemen  of  the  highest 
rank  of  seventeen  counties  and  of  the  capital  in  the  colony,  and 


APPENDIX.  313 

two  of  them  in  London.  Those  of  1723  were  such  as  Alexan 
der  Spottswood,  Governor  of  the  Colony,  and  Robert  Carter, 
of  Corotoman,  Secretary  of  the  Council  and  their  peers.  Those 
of  1758,  such  as  the  Hon.  John  Blair,  President  of  the  Council, 
Hon.  William  Nelson,  and  Hon.  Thomas  Nelson,  also  Presi 
dents  of  the  Council,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Burgesses, 
Peyton  Randolph,  Gent.,  of  Williamsburg,  Richard  Bland, 
Treasurer  and  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Burgesses.  From  1761 
to  1763,  such  as  Hon.  Francis  Fauquier ;  Governor  William 
Robinson,  Commissary ;  Robert  Carter  Nicholas,  Treasurer  of 
the  Colony ;  and  George  Wythe,  of  Williamsburg.  Visitors 
elected  after  1763,  such  as  Right  Hon.  N.  Berkeley,  Governor  of 
the  Colony;  Edward  Page,  Jr.,  of  Rosewell,  Governor  of  Vir 
ginia;  Right  Hon.  John,  Earl  of  Dunmore,  Governor  of  the 
Colony  ;  Benjamin  Berkeley  Harrison,  of  Berkeley,  signer  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  father  of  President  William  H. 
Harrison ;  Edmund  Randolph ;  General  Thomas  Nelson,  Gov 
ernor  of  Virginia ;  Thomas  Jefferson,  President  of  the  United 
States;  James  Madison,  President  of  the  United  States;  John 
Marshall,  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States ;  Henry  Lee, 
of  Westmoreland  ;  Littleton  Waller  Tazewell,  Wilson  Miles 
Gary,  John  Tyler,  Senior;  William  Wirt;  John  Tyler,  Junior, 
President  of  the  United  States  ;  Right  Rev.  J.  S.  Ravens- 
croft  ;  Robert  Stanard,  Senior  ;  James  M.  Garnett,  Robert  B. 
Taylor,  Edmund  Ruffin,  Abel  P.  Upshur,  George  Loyall,  Wil 
liam  C.  Goode,  John  S.  Millson,  James  Lyons,  Right  Rev. 
William  Meade,  William  Crump,  Tazewell  Taylor,  Right  Rev. 
John  Johns,  Hugh  Blair  Grigsby. 

In  1859,  Ex-President  John  Tyler  was  chancellor  and  rector; 
and  in  July,  1871,  the  Hon.  Hugh  Blair  Grigsby,  the  gentleman, 
scholar,  and  eloquent  writer  and  orator,  of  the  blood  of  James 
Blair,  the  first  president  of  the  college,  was  elected  unanimously 
chancellor,  and  the  Hon.  James  Lyons,  the  eminent  lawyer  and 
citizen  of  Richmond,  was  elected  unanimously  rector  of  the 
college,  to  succeed  another  eminent  rector,  the  Hon.  William 
H.  McFarland,  who  had  removed  out  of  the  commonwealth. 
The  very  bursars  of  the  college  have  ever  been  gentlemen  of 


314  APPENDIX. 

the  most  favorable  standing,  and  her  president  and  professors 
such  men  as  James  Blair,  D.D.,  William  Stith,  the  historian, 
Right  Rev.  James  Madison,  Dr.  John  Augustine  Smith,  Rev. 
William  H.  Wilmer,  D.D.,  Rev.  Adam  P.  Empie,  D.D.,  Thomas 
R.  Dew,  Esqr.,  Robert  Saunders,  Right  Rev.  John  Johns,  and 
Benjamin  S.  Ewell,  George  Wythe,  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  St.  George  Tucker,  Judge  James 
Semple,  Judge  N.  Beverly  Tucker,  Judge  George  P.  Scarburgh, 
Rev.  Charles  Minnegerode,  William  B.  Rogers,  and  Dr.  John 
Millington. 

And  a  college  thus  organized  and  instructed  by  such  men 
could  not  but  yield  the  rarest  riches  of  alumni.  Before  the 
Revolution  there  was  a  long  succession  of  the  most  eminent 
colonial  men  who  were  proud  to  be  called  her  sons ;  and  since 
her  brood  has  been  multiplied  fourfold  without  loss  of  grade. 
About  four  hundred  different  names  on  her  rolls  have  been  put 
upon  the  rolls  of  distinction,  and  many  on  the  heights  of  emi 
nence,  by  her  teaching  and  training.  Not  only  was  her  teaching 
after  the  Oxford  order  of  the  Humanities,  but  her  training  was 
that  of  the  most  refined  and  urbane  manners. 

Williamsburg  was  the  site  of  the  vice-royal  palace,  and  her 
court  was  far  more  moral  than  that  of  Charles  II.,  and  quite 
as  ornate  in  manners.  The  breeding  and  cultivation  were  of 
the  old  regime  of  knights,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Episcopal 
clergy;  and  to  this  day  there  is  a  marked  superiority  of  address 
among  the  old  families  and  old  servants  even  of  Williamsburg 
over  any  other  people,  of  town  or  country,  in  Virginia.  She  is 
so  retired  and  ancient  that  "  Young  America"  and  modern 
manners  have  not  yet  fully  abashed  her  gentle,  soft,  and  pol 
ished  politeness,  as  elsewhere — almost  everywhere  in  the  land. 
It  is  and  ever  was  one  of  the  chief  attractions  of  the  sons  of 
gentlemen  to  her  halls  of  learning  and  houses  of  hospitality. 
No  man  of  his  day  more  kept  up  that  "  ancien  regime"  than 
John  Tyler :  plain,  genial,  polished,  kind,  gentle,  affable, — 
young  men  were  his  proteges  and  pets,  and  he  was  one  of 
their  best  models. 

A  part  of  the  great  good  he  did  for  his  Alma  Mater  was  to 


APPENDIX.  315 

protect  her  corporate  franchise.  When  there  was  a  strong 
spirit  predominant,  and  justly  so,  to  break  down  and  annihilate 
everything  like  a  church  establishment,  beginning  with  Patrick 
Henry's  fight  against  the  parsons,  running  through  the  latter 
end  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  cen 
turies,  wringing  from  Episcopacy  the  Act  of  Religious  Freedom, 
and  abolishing  the  glebes  and  vestries,  and  making  horse- 
troughs  of  the  baptismal  fonts  of  the  Anglican  Church,  many 
erroneously  urgecl  that  William  and  Mary  was  part  of  the 
establishment, — yea,  was  the  very  "red  shawl  of  the  Babylon 
ish  woman," — and  were  for  depriving  her  of  her  charter,  claiming 
that  she  was  a  State  or  public  political  institution,  and  might 
be  abolished.  Mr.  Tyler  nobly  stood,  among  others,  by  her 
side,  and  maintained  that,  though  she  had  a  burgess  in  the 
Grand  Assembly,  and  was  represented  as  a  municipal  corpora 
tion  in  the  convention  even  which  formed  the  State  Constitu 
tion,  which  excluded  her,  for  the  first  time,  from  representation 
in  the  legislature,  yet  she  was  founded  on  private  subscription 
mainly,  and  stood  safely  on  the  ground  taken  by  Mr.  Webster 
in  the  case  of  Dartmouth  College.  There  she  has  stood,  and 
still  stands,  unassailable  ;  and  it  would  be  sacrilege  to  question 
her  corporate  rights  now,  after  giving  twenty-seven  of  her 
students  to  the  achievement  of  American  Independence,  among 
whom  were  a  Boiling,  a  Burwell,  a  Byrd,  two  Carters,  a  Clai- 
borne,  a  Cooke,  a  Cocke,  a  Dade,  a  Digges,  an  Eggleston,  an 
Evans,  a  Harrison,  a  Mercer,  a  Monroe,  a  Nelson,  a  Nicholson, 
two  Pages,  four  Randolphs,  a  Roberts,  a  Saunders,  G.  Smith, 
and  Dr.  James  Lyons  (father  of  James  Lyons),  names  forever 
to  be  cherished.  Besides  her  long  roll  of  most  eminent  divines, 
lawyers,  and  physicians  in  private  life,  she  has  given  to  the 
country  two  eminent  attorney-generals  of  the  United  States,  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  nearly  twenty  members,  and  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  fifteen  senators,  to  Virginia  and  other  States  seventeen 
governors,  to  the  country  one  historian  and  numberless  eminent 
writers,  to  the  State  and  the  United  States  thirty-seven  judges, 
to  the  Revolution  twenty-seven  of  her  sons,  to  the  army  of  the 


316  APPENDIX. 

United  States  a  lieutenant-general  and  a  score  of  principal  and 
subordinate  officers,  to  the  United  States  navy  a  list  of  paladins 
of  the  sea,  headed  by  Warrington  and  Thomas  Ap  Catesby 
Jones,  to  the  colleges  and  University  twelve  professors,  to  the 
nation  three  Presidents, — Jefferson,  Monroe,  and  John  Tyler, — to 
Independence  four  signers  of  its  Declaration,  to  the  first  Ameri 
can  Congress  its  President,  to  the  Federal  judiciary  the  most 
eminent  chief  justice,  John  Marshall,  to  the  Federal  Executive 
seven  Cabinet  officers,  and  to  the  Convention  which  framed  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  Edmund  Randolph,  its  chief 
author  and  draftsman.  In  all,  she  has  given  to  her  country  more 
than  two  hundred  heroes  and  sages  who  have  been  pre-eminently 
distinguished  in  public  service  and  place.  These  are  wonderful 
facts,  and  their  number  and  value,  compared  with  the  number 
of  alumni,  show  her  to  be  first  in  fruits,  if  not  first  in  time, 
compared  with  any  other  college  in  America.  Counting  her 
time  from  1693  to  the  present  day,  the  period  of  her  existence 
is  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  years;  from  1661,  two  hun 
dred  and  ten  years ;  in  a  word,  for  about  two  hundred  years 
she  has  for  and  during  the  period  of  her  existence  yielded 
to  her  State  and  country,  to  mankind  and  the  world,  more 
than  one  jewel  of  the  first  water  per  annum,  of  inestimable 
value.  Who  would  see  that  fountain  of  truth,  of  light,  of 
honor,  of  law,  and  liberty  fail  ? 

John  Tyler,  Ex-President  of  the  United  States,  was  devoted 
to  the  task  of  keeping  her  full  up  to  the  mark  of  her  memories 
of  the  past,  and  of  her  high  calling  for  the  future ;  and  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States  will,  doubtless,  at  its  next  session, 
repair  liberally  all  the  damages  done  by  civil  war  to  her  vener 
able  walls  and  to  her  precious  paraphernalia  and  archives.  To 
use  the  eloquent  eulogium  of  John  Tyler  himself,  "  Like  an 
aged  Nestor,  this  institution  has  stood  amidst  civil  convulsions 
which  have  shaken  continents.  At  the  time  of  its  erection  it 
looked  upon  a  country  in  the  early  infancy  of  settlement,  con 
taining  a  population  in  all  the  English  colonies  which  was 
not  greater  than  that  which  at  this  day  is  found  in  the  smallest 
State  of  the  Union.  It  beheld  that  population  expanding  over 


APPENDIX.  317 

regions  bounded  by  the  two  great  oceans,  to  oe  counted  by 
millions  in  place  of  the  scattered  thousands  of  that  early  day. 
It  has  seen  the  Colonies  shake  off  the  badges  of  puberty  and 
put  on  the  toga  virilis.  It  saw  the  Congress  before  and  after 
it  had  assembled  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and 
those  Articles  substituted  by  the  Constitution  under  which  it 
is  now  our  happiness  to  live.  It  re-echoed  the  words  of  the 
forest-born  Demosthenes  in  1765,  asserting  the  rights  of  Amer 
ica  to  be  '  natural,  constitutional,  and  chartered,'  and  in  thunder- 
tones,  in  after-days,  its  walls  resounded  to  the  words  '  Liberty 
or  Death'  uttered  by  the  same  eloquent  lips.  Itself  an  offspring 
of  the  revolution  of  1688,  its  sons  were  the  warm  and  enthu 
siastic  advocates  of  that  of  1776. 

"Under  the  influence  of  its  teachings,  its  students  threw  aside, 
for  a  season,  their  volumes,  and  girded  on  the  sword  to  do  battle 
in  the  great  cause  of  liberty. 

"  The  calm  and  silver-toned  voice  of  Philosophy,  heard  within 
its  walls,  has  been  ofttimes  hushed  by  the  clangor  of  drums  and 
trumpets. 

"  At  one  time  it  gave  reluctant  shelter  to  the  British  troops  as 
they  passed  to  Yorktown  ;  and  soon  after  its  gates  were  opened 
wide  to  give  willing  and  exultant  reception  to  the  troops,  with 
their  tattered  banners,  which  followed  Cornwallis  to  his  last 
retreat. 

"  Its  walls  were  alternately  shaken  by  the  thunder  of  the 
cannon  at  Yorktown,  and  by  the  triumphant  shouts  of  the 
noble  bands  who  had  fought  and  conquered  in  the  name  of 
American  Independence. 

"  The  boy  had  gone  forth  with  the  surveyor's  staff,  which  it  had 
placed  in  his  hands,  into  the  wilderness  of  the  West,  and  now 
returned  the  hero  and  the  conqueror,  and  once  more  stood  within 
its  walls,  surrounded  by  the  chivalry  of  France  and  America, 
wearing  on  his  brow  imperishable  laurels,  and  making  the  name 
of  Washington  famous  on  the  rolls  of  fame. 

"  If  her  catalogue  closed  with  the  names  of  those  who  belong 
to  the  dead  generations,  might  not  '  William  and  Mary'  take 
her  place  among  her  sister  universities,  proudly  and  rightfully? 


318  APPENDIX. 

But  it  bears  the  names  of  men  of  living  generations,  who  add 
to  her  renown.  In  the  various  pursuits  of  life  they  perform 
their  several  parts.  The  pulpit,  from  which  are  uttered  those 
great  truths  essential  for  time  and  eternity,  re&ounds  with  their 
eloquence  ;  while  on  the  bench  of  justice,  at  the  legal  forum,  in 
the  State  legislatures,  in  the  national  councils,  in  the  active  marts 
of  commerce,  in  the  pursuits  of  agriculture,  in  the  tented  camps, 
their  names  are  honored,  their  attainments  respected,  and  their 
opinions  and  examples  quoted  and  followed." 

And  now  the  question  suggests  itself,  What  has  made  this 
mother  of  minds,  not  so  very  prolific  in  the  numbers  of  her  sons, 
so  rich  and  hardly  equaled  in  the  quality  of  their  lives  and  per 
formances  ?  Our  answer  is,  that  she  has  ever  followed  the 
system  of  the  Oxford  instead  of  the  Cambridge  class  of  schools. 
She  has  ever  taught  the  Humanities  rather  than  Physics ;  the 
abstract,  not  rather  than,  but  as  the  foundation  of,  the  concrete 
and  practical.  She  has  taught  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  moral 
philosophy,  and  metaphysics,  as  based  upon  that  divinity  ;  the 
ancient  languages  more  than  the  modern;  history,  rhetoric, 
logic  ;  the  laws  of  right  rather  than  those  of  matter  ;  and  yet  has 
never  neglected  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy,  chemistry 
and  astronomy,  and  other  sciences.  She  has  especially  trained 
a  school  of  natural  rights,  and  of  constitutional  law  and  its 
limitations;  and  therefore  has  given  to  the  world  a  man, 
whether  Democratic  or  Federal  in  politics,  the  best  to  draft  a 
constitution,  as  Edmund  Randolph  ;  or  to  interpret  it,  as  John 
Marshall  ;  the  best  to  draw  a  declaration  of  independence  or 
an  act  of  religious  freedom,  as  Thomas  Jefferson ;  the  best  to 
speak  his  mother  tongue,  as  John  Randolph  ;  or  to  write  it 
purest,  as  Benjamin  Watkins  Leigh  ;  and  the  best  to  contend  in 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  with  William  Piuk- 
ney,  as  Littleton  Waller  Tazewell  ;  the  best  to  administer 
affairs  of  state,  as  Thomas  Jefferson,  James  Monroe,  and  John 
Tyler. 

Let  William  and  Mary,  then,  adhere  firmly  and  persistently 
to  the  Humanities.  Mammon,  the  sacra  fames  auri,  has  har 
nessed  the  physical  sciences  to  its  car,  and  is  running  over  and 


APPENDIX.  319 

crushing  the  moral  and  the  abstract.  We  .think  it  was  Robert 
Letcher,  of  Kentucky,  who  said,  "  Virginia  will  die  of  abstrac 
tions."  His  prophecy  has  been  nearly  verified  by  the  moral  and 
abstract  dying  of  the  practical  and  expedient  of  the  age.  It  is 
not  Virginia  which  is  dying,  but  the  vital  being  which  Virginia 
gave  to  the  social  and  political  forms  of  America,  which  is 
dying  for  the  neglect  and  want  of  the  Humanities  which  her  ear 
liest  and  best  schools  taught  to  the  State  and  the  nation. 

It  is  a  false  philosophy,  and  diabolical,  Machiavelian,  and 
mischievous  in  the  extreme,  which  teaches  that  anything  is  ex 
pedient  which  is  not  true  in  the  abstract,  a  priori.  Laws,  and 
the  principles  of  laws,  and  rules,  and  reasons,  studied  theoreti 
cally  and  applied  knowingly  by  experience,  can  alone  test  what 
in  the  end  is  practical  and  expedient.  Every  neglect  of  those 
laws  and  principles  must  inevitably  threaten  any  system,  politi 
cal,  moral,  or  physical.  It  may  seemingly  succeed,  temporarily, 
and  pay  best  for  the  occasion,  but  in  the  end  it  invariably  tends 
to  derangement  and  destruction.  We  have  written  this  memoir 
of  men  and  events  for  seventy-two  years,  in  vain,  if  we  have  not 
illustrated  this  truth,  best  promulged  by  Paley.  If  we  would 
be  truly  practical  and  do  what  is  ever  expedient,  we  must  be 
true  in  theory  and  definite  in  the  abstract.  The  spirit  of  this 
age  is  to  throw  aside  theory  and  the  abstract,  and  to  apply  only 
what  will  pay  for  the  time ;  and  if  the  free  system  of  govern 
ment  which  the  sons  of  William  and  Mary  mainly  in  part 
handed  down  to  this  generation,  is  to  be  restored  and  perpetu 
ated,  it  must  be  by  and  through  the  schools  and  the  pulpits,  and 
they  will  add  unto  themselves  the  power  of  the  press.  The  very 
doing  of  truth  cometh  to  the  light ;  and  the  Humanities  alone 
can  teach  our  children  what  truth  is. 

Families,  fathers,  and  mothers  must  carefully  nurture  the  ele 
mentary  and  academic  schools,  and  the  schools  must  foster  the 
colleges,  and  the  colleges  must  build  up  the  University.  We 
commend,  then,  to  William  and  Mary  a  course  and  curriculum 
which  we  think  will  make  her  more  than  ever  a  nursing  mother 
of  our  children  and  of  our  country  and  its  institutions  of  free 
dom.  The  fear  of  God  and  the  love  of  man  alone  can  maintain 


320  APPENDIX. 

a  republic  of  equal  rights,  of  law,  of  order,  of  peace,  and  of 
power.  What  William  Perm  said  of  government  is  true  :  "  The 
best  system  in  the  hands  of  bad  men  is  no  better  than  the 
worst ;  and  the  worst  system  in  the  hands  of  good  men  is  as 
good  as  the  best."  Liberty  lives  not  in  the  system  of  govern 
ment,  but  in  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  those  who  administer  it 
and  those  who  are  governed  by  it.  A  vicious  and  corrupt  people 
will  not  have  wise  and  virtuous  governors  to  administer  their 
laws, — will  not  tolerate  wholesome  laws,  and  will  not  be  gov 
erned  by  them.  The  governors  and  governed  must  alike  be 
trained  to  wisdom,  virtue,  and  knowledge.  The  whole  or  a 
major  part  of  the  people  of  a  republic  must  be  leavened  with 
these  essential  elements  of  its  life,  or  it  cannot  live.  And  if 
we  would  restore  the  life  of  this  constitutional  republic,  we 
must  return  as  quickly  as  possible  to  the  Humanities,  and  dis 
seminate  them  by  all  means  throughout  America. 


THE   END. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

RENEWED  BOOKS  ARE  SUBJECT  TO  IMMEDIATE 
RECALL 


LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Slip-50m-12,'64(F772s4)458 


